Weekly Presidential Approval Poll: July 18, 2007 (Ep. Fragged)
Here’s the new weekly presidental approval poll. Remember — even if you voted last week, you’ll want to vote again on this poll as this is a weekly feature and the results will vary from week to week. Let your opinion be heard (for free)!
Remember: This approval poll applies to the current GWC re-watch schedule, which means you should be voting for your feelings circa Episode 203: “Fragged.”
Do you approve or disapprove of the way Laura Roslin is handling her job as president?
- Approve: 57% (39 votes)
- Disapprove: 34% (23 votes)
- Unsure: 9% (6 votes)
Total Votes: 68
Galactic Watercooler 
Modern Geek 
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Eff This Week 
FitSmart
My first ever disapprove!
Welcome to the dark side, Timbuck! I gave my first disapprove when she decided to send Starbuck after the arrow.
Wait a sec… Is a presidential approval appropriate during episodes when Laura has been removed from office?
I for one do not disapprove of Laura sending Starbuck to get the arrow. Given her belief and evidence that she was playing a role in a very real prophecy and thinking that getting that arrow was vital to finding Earth, how else was she supposed to get the arrow if Adama wasn’t going to expend any resources whatsoever to go get it?
Disapprove, again…
Nick, I think that she should have submitted to Adama’s decision. It was a military matter involving the military acquisition of the Cylon Raider. She violated their standing agreement.
Of course, as we’ve said, it’s all complicated by the fact that religion is reality in BSG, and also that we don’t know the exact nature of the “Constitutional” (Articles of Colonization-al) relationship between the president, Quorum, and the military in the BSGverse. But, all things being equal, I wouldn’t trust an elected official of a secular society (and we have every reason to think that this varies by colony in BSG, so that you’d have to think, wouldn’t you, that the presidency is a secular office, all “civil religion” trappings of invoking the Lords of Kobol aside) who invokes the authority of his/her office to go off half-cocked in pursuit of their pet religious theories, or getting someone else to do the same.
Even if I happened to agree with those theories. There are just some lines you don’t cross in a secular democracy, and Roslin crossed one Big Time.
I can not disagree more that Laura should have submitted to Adama’s decision. Had she not taken the actions she did when she did then the fleet wouldn’t be on the road to Earth. Remember that Adama has no idea where Earth is. Adama doesn’t even believe Earth exists, and Rosalin has direct knowledge of this.
A lot of our arguments are made looking through the lense of our own government in today’s time. This simply isn’t the case in the BSG universe. Granted in our society you wouldn’t want to trust secular officials with making policy on a religious basis. I don’t have a problem with just this happening in BSG. The reason being is that among the humans in the show there is only 1 religion. Either you are faithful or you are not. Yes, there are varying degrees of fanaticism, but it is still 1 religion. Not like Earth where you have many many fundamentally different religions Now take into account that in this 1 religion there is a prophecy, which IS being fulfilled. You find yourself fulfilling one of those roles. Believing this, how could Rosalin make any decision other than the one she made?.
In the BSG universe mankind is on the brink of extinction and being hunted by genocidal robots. “All things being equal” arguments do not apply to this situation. Also people want to hold on to democracy and adhere to the articles of confederation. (whatever the specifics of those are) The sad reality is that the Articles can not be adhered to. I remember when watching Stephen King’s “The Stand†The survivors of humanity all gathered either in Las Vegas or Denver. When the Denver group gathered for a town meeting they decided to re-adopt the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I had said to myself at that time “The Constitution is a legal document. What they are doing sounds like a patriotic feel-good measure but has anybody there actually read it? It doesn’t apply. It is NOT a document which can be used to establish the government of a single city-state.†I’ve always felt the same thing applies in the BSG universe. The articles seem to parallel the US constitution, and as such were written to govern a society of Billions of people spread across 12 colonies. People want to preserve they had under the articles, but I’d argue that under the circumstances the articles no longer apply. It is merely a desperate attempt to hold on to ideals.
I didn’t vote but if I had to I would also vote disapprove according to the conversation above. Yes things in the end worked out for the best with Kara going back to Caprica to get the Arrow, but at least to me these polls should be done without our god’s eye view of everything. Yes we know what happens and all things become goody goody but at the present time when these actions took place they seriously put people in danger of dying. So for me I disagree that roslin’s actions at the present time were not good (although they do have fruit at the end). Also you could think of it this way … why couldn’t the Galactica use there raider to nuke the basestar then jump in and go through the wreckage and find at least one working raider. You can’t tell me that with all the raiders that can pump out of one of those basestars that they couldn’t find one raider intact after destorying it. Just doesn’t seem logical in my mind. And if they were able to do that, I believe Adama could of been convinced then to allow a raider that they find to be used for means to send someone to caprica. Because lets face it the ONLY reason adama doesn’t allow it in the first place is because he has men and women on that planet that need to be rescued and the easiest way to rescue them is to send the raider in to nuke the basestar.
~Andrew
Welcome to the ‘Cooler, CodeAndrew!