From the Presidential Primaries to forming the new government in the Oval Office, the new administration lead by Donald Trump has committed its fair share of blunders. Controversial tweets. Disastrous press briefings. Leaked Access Hollywood tapes. The list is endless. With no end in site to the mounting incompetence of the White House, many continue to wonder how the orange-faced, small handed buffoon -- who declared his candidacy by denouncing Mexicans as rapists -- managed to claw his way into the most powerful office in the Western World.
As much as people have taken liberties in scrutinizing Presidents past and present, it is never truly appreciated how difficult the job is. Tasked with decision at the highest level concerning National Security, Foreign Policy, and domestic reform of every stripe, candidates vying for such a position face extraordinary pressure. Not just from the inner workings of policy reform, but from constituents -- who expect nothing more than perfection. Both during the campaign, and long after such an individual has delivered his/her inauguration speech. Beneath a dense, and lengthy vetting process, everything a candidate does and says must be as sound as it must be flawless. One misread gesture, one misspoken word, and it can all come falling apart. Here are 5 of the top election gaffes that submarined the campaigns of those vying for the office of the President of the United States:
5. Gerald Ford: How about them Communists?
During the election of 1976, Gerald Ford has his work cut out for him. Although he was pitted against the relatively unknown Jimmy Carter at the time, Ford faced dwindling popularity while being tasked with leading a Republican Party tainted by Richard Nixon and the ever infamous Watergate Scandal.
However, during the second debate, the Nebraska native, attempting to establish a tough image for himself, assertively proclaimed:
“There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration."
Making such statement in time where the Cold War was still more than a decade from ending, this feat quickly backfired. Reinforcing Ford's public image as being dull and clumsy -- a perception that first gained sensibility when the former Vice President of Richard Nixon tripped over a camera. With voters unconvinced that Ford possessed the intellectual capacity to lead the White House for another four years, the GOP incumbent was soundly outed by a humble peach farmer from Georgia who would go on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
4. Joe Biden: Cleaned Out. Storybook Style.
"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy, I mean, that's a storybook, man."
Regarded by Time Magazine as one of the Top 10 Campaign Gaffes of 2007, this slip of words cast a tainting imprint on Biden's candidacy, and hindered his ability to raise funds to finance the rest of his campaign.
3. John McCain: IQ Measurement on the Palin Scale
Tasked with defeating Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama in the 2008 election, all looked bleak for McCain. Obama had just defeated another favourite in the form of Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Primary, while McCain's perception as a Maverick had become greatly eroded due to his willingness to accommodate interest from farther down the right. Seeking to breath life back into his stale campaign, McCain stunned the political world when he announced that he had selected Sarah Palin to be his running mate.
The second woman in history to be chosen to run for Vice President, Palin captivated voters at the Republican National Campaign in a display of oratory prowess that was magnified by the splendour of an aura that followed her from her younger days. Electrifying the GOP base and the media, McCain's numbers experienced a surge in the polls, and for awhile, it seemed Barack Obama was up for the same fight he had experienced in the primaries.
However, Palin's ultimate kryptonite proved to be her intellect, or lack of it. In a disastrous interview with Katie Couric on CBS, the former Governor of Alaska could not name a single Supreme Court decision that was important to her save for, ironically, Roe v. Wade. And even went onto to claim to be an expert at foreign policy because Vladimir Putin liked to fly over Alaskan airspace. Palin's dullness proved disastrous, as McCain would lose the election on a 173-365 landslide margin.
2. Rick Perry: "Oops."
But it all came to head in November when Perry, attempting to defend his plan to cut federal spending, failed to name the third of the three agencies he had pledged to eliminate -- The Department of Energy. Which in a comical twist of irony, he currently serves as its Secretary. Pressed by John Harwood of CNBC who inquired whether he was able to remember the agency, Perry responded:
"I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops."
Dubbed the worst political gaffe in history by the Daily Telegraph, this stunt spelled the end of Perry's campaign, and to this day, never fails to stir up laughter amongst pundits, comedians, and politicians alike.
1. William Henry Harrison: An Ode to Log Cabins and Hard Cider
However, this mud slinging antic quickly backfired. Twisting the insult, Harrison and John Tyler -- his running mate -- began featuring hard cider and log cabins on their campaign banners. A gimmick that allowed the wealthy slave-owning Virginians to connect with voters as the everyday common man. Further honing his image as a humble frontiersman -- a style first popularized by Andrew Jackson -- Harrison's appeal reached a wide base of voters, and allowed him to win the election by a landslide. Carrying 19 out 26 states, the Charles City County native won by a margin of 234 electoral votes to Van Buren's 60.
