Thinking thinking thinking

[trinityvixen]

About every other month or so, I am prompted by some conversation or another to think back and try to list for myself all the Presidents of the United States. As those who have been unfortunate enough to be around me at the time this OCD-like behavior strikes, I cannot stop until I have listed as many as I know and then go find the usually three-four I am missing. It's usually a different set each time, too, since I tend to remember the ones I couldn't remember the last time.

The ones I forgot this time: Chester A Arthur, Willaim McKinley, and, uh, Abraham Lincoln. (Oh, and I never remember that Cleveland, in fact, counts twice. I remember him and I know he won two non-consecutive terms, just not that that counts towards 44.)

Comments

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Some guys are easy to pair up, which can extend the list a little bit. Martin Van Buren was Jackson's political mastermind, for example, and he followed him at the White House. Van Buren was then defeated in one of the silliest and most vapid campaigns in US history (it's where "Tippacanoe and Tyler too!" comes from). Go on and on from there.

Speaking of silly names, I just recited the list to myself, and my God, after 43 WASPy or WASPy-sounding names, "Obama" really stands out.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

See, you're applying history to it. I'm just mad that, after touring the entire country to visit these dead white guys' homesteads, houses, libraries, and grave sites, I can't remember all of them. So I get annoyed and try to remember all of them. (YAY OCD!) Remembering them historically keeps breaking down at the far corners for me (hence the Washington until mumblemumble, Obama back to grumblegrumble approach).

If you know your political history well, this shouldn't be a problem. Guess who doesn't? C'est moi, c'est moi, 'tis I.