Andy: Let's Have A Queen
The following is a weekly 60 Minutes commentary by CBS News correspondent Andy Rooney. It was originally broadcast on April 8, 2007.
It would be interesting to have another presidential election now. Four years is a long time between elections.
The Constitution says that a president's term in office shall be four years. Two or three might have been better but we don't use three much for anything.
No one can say how many votes President Bush would get if we did have another election tomorrow. For all we know he might win in a landslide. I don't think so but he might.
Democrats control Congress now even with a Republican President. We don't have any system like the British have for removing their prime minister if he and Parliament disagree.
The British have a king or a queen that we don't have either. We don't approve of royalty. The Queen does a lot of the dirty work for her Prime Minister. Goes to a lot of formal functions, reviews troops, wears all her queen clothes. Elizabeth has been Queen of England for 55 years now.
Imagine having George W. Bush as President for 55 years!
Maybe we should get ourselves a queen though. I'll bet President Bush would like to have one.
For one thing, he has to waste so much time every day posing for pictures. A queen in The White House could do all this ceremonial stuff for him, have pictures taken with dignitaries, pose with them on the front porch of The White House.
I'll bet the British pay a fortune for the Queen's clothes. Women's clothes cost more than men's and she always wears something different. I wonder what the queen does with the dress she wore yesterday.
President Bush always looks well-dressed. We called someone in The White House and they told us that the president pays for all his clothes himself.
Now, that doesn't seem fair really. He wouldn't have to have so many suits if he weren't president. I think we should buy the president's clothes for him. He'll probably call and thank me for that.
The president dresses a lot more casually at his ranch in Texas. Always looks like a cowboy. Of course a lot of people wish President Bush would go to Texas, put on his cowboy clothes, and stay there.
Written By Andy Rooney