SHOULD there be a president with AS?

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16 Apr 2011, 10:29 am

I saw a thread on this a while back, but I want to keep it alive. I tend to be thinking that not only should an ASD person become president, they should. I think that Aspies in particular (sorry if I'm stereotyping) have very good ideas, especially when it comes to politics. Maybe nobody would even vote for an AS president of the US, but I do honestly believe somebody should at least run and get out there. What do you think?

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16 Apr 2011, 10:38 am

Jet102fm wrote:

Praise for the Leader! topic

Leadership qualities are complex and diverse. ASD is just one aspect. Though i think having an elected AS official in any capacity would be jsut peachy, being a good leader is more than just being AS, and i would not elect someone just because the candidate identified as AS.

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16 Apr 2011, 11:03 am

Jet102fm wrote:

I think that Aspies have very good ideas when it comes to politics.

Hang around this forum for a couple weeks and you will be quickly disabused of that notion.

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16 Apr 2011, 11:27 am

For the OP's reading pleasure

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/p ... 658404.ece
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5399072.stm

Any comments about Osborne's comments about Brown?

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16 Apr 2011, 11:44 am

People here seem to have the same range of political views as neurotypicals. I doubt people on the spectrum would make better or worse presidents than anyone else.

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16 Apr 2011, 12:39 pm

with the way we want to rip eachother apart here in PPR i think it would be an idea with very mixed results.

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16 Apr 2011, 12:44 pm

No leader should either be rejected or selected on the basis of anything which they are born with and not chosen by themselves.

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16 Apr 2011, 1:18 pm

Yes, EEO should dictate it, though we also still need a female president, a Chinese president, an Indian president, a gay male president, a gay female president, a black female president, a Chinese female president, an Indian female president - and we're not even scraping the surface yet with hundreds if not thousands of world and regional cultures, religions, neurotype, etc. We really should not have another white male - ever - unless he fills at least two or three minority specs.

That and we need to remember - qualifications are fundamentally discriminatory against those who don't have them, so its time to stop being unqualiphobe bigots.

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16 Apr 2011, 1:31 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

No leader should either be rejected or selected on the basis of anything which they are born with and not chosen by themselves.

Which is why I find it difficult to accept the premise of an Aspie President as a realistic idea. The presidency is a very difficult job, requiring not only political ideas, but also highly developed social skills. Half the job is photo ops and negotiations-- and appearances do matter, right down to eye contact and body language. These social practices are exactly the sort of things with which Aspies generally have difficulty. This is not to say it could never happen-- but I do think it would likely take someone toward the high functioning end of the spectrum, or someone who had "rehabilitated" him or herself from most of the Aspie tendencies which NTs view as "eccentric" or "unnatural". It would have to be someone who actually had a fighting chance in a popularity contest.

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16 Apr 2011, 1:36 pm

Chevand wrote:

Supposedly, according to a lot of people, we already had an Aspie/HFA president with Richard Nixon. Not that he was ever dx'd but the descriptions make him sound like NT with strong Aspie traits at minimum.

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16 Apr 2011, 1:45 pm

Tricky Dick an as aspergian? Never thought of that

I nominate Ruveyn to be Supreme Dear Leader

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16 Apr 2011, 1:53 pm

Historically speaking, we have had numerous presidents that suffered from mental illness. Two of the most recent that come to mind are John F Kennedy and Nixon. Kennedy's personal doctor carried around a briefcase of Drugs, including lithium. Nixon suffered from severe anxiety and paranoia.

Jefferson is one of the many historical people speculated to have had the condition of Aspergers.

In reading a biography sketch of all of the Presidents, their human frailities, mental and physical, were evident. In cases like Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt; and Kennedy they overcame physical adversity to achieve greatness.

The requirement to present a social personna to the general public, was not as heavy a requirement for the early presidents. Many of them were social isolates, with intense analytical natures.

There is some speculation that Obama has a mild case of Aspergers. Yes, people call him a narcissist, but he presents characteristics associated with Aspergers:

The reason I seriously doubt that he is a narcissist, is he treats his wife as an equal, and it is doubtful she is the kind of women that would submit to a narcissistic personality.

He is one of the most rigid people I have ever seen, with what looks like a carefully constructed personna.

From the Dakota Beacon: http://dakotabeacon.com/entry/dennis_stillings_does_obama_suffer_from_aspergers_syndrome/

Quote:

(1) Obama’s almost legendary clumsiness. His inability to throw a baseball is well documented. He has actually bowled a 37 during the time of his campaign. His basketball ability pretty much kept him on the bench in his youth and, as far as I can tell, no video footage of his golf game exists.

(2) Verbal glitches—possibly the reason for the ever-present teleprompters. Without them, he tends to generate long, rambling and disconnected monologues. In my opinion, his famous “corpse-man” mispronunciation has not been adequately explained. In grade school, “corps” is used as an illustration of the non-English manner in which French “borrow-words” might be pronounced. Furthermore, it seems incredible that a person with Obama’s education and political background would not have come in contact with such expressions as Marine Corps, corps de ballet, or Drum and Bugle Corps—among others. Could this be symptomatic of autistic rigidity and inability to generalize into other contexts?

And, finally, there is his infamous inability to relate: Old people should take pain pills instead of expensive medical treatments. He giggles when asked about the economy. He opened a presentation with a shout-out before announcing the Ft. Hood shootings. Then there are his vacations, golfing, partying and fundraising during the oil spill.

And finally, he has a very low 2d/4d digit ratio of between .90 and .92 as reported in the linked article. See the picture of his hand at the bottom of the page.

https://fingerlengthdigitratio.wordpress.com/tag/jimmy-carter/

When I first saw the topic of this discussion; my first thought was "we might already have one".

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16 Apr 2011, 1:56 pm

Vigilans wrote:

I nominate Ruveyn to be Supreme Dear Leader

I seconded the nomination my good sir, All Hale the Mighty Ruveyn!! !

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16 Apr 2011, 2:34 pm

techstepgenr8tion wrote:

Chevand wrote:

I've also seen speculation on Washington, Lincoln; and almost President Al Gore. If I had to choose one among the others including Nixon, Jefferson, and Obama, Gore would be my number one pick. I remember that moment in the debate when Gore walked right over to Bush and invaded his personal space. Clueless on National TV.

Without eccentricities and a unique personality, a politician would be lost within the masses. For example, Sarah Palin, she will be remembered for years to come. I think she is one of a kind that defies all diagnosis.

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16 Apr 2011, 9:43 pm

Aspies make good engineers (hardware and software), scientists, and often good artists,and musicians, but rarely successful politicians.

They may have good ideas but a politician needs to be just that- a politician- to implement those ideas-- both by galvanizing the public in speeches, and by horse trading, and forming alliances with other politicians.

So an apsie president is almost a contradiction in terms.

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16 Apr 2011, 10:05 pm

naturalplastic wrote:

I agree here, but with evidence from politicians like George W. and Palin; reality doesn't always match requirement.

If nothing else, Obama is one of kind, just like George W. and Palin.

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