Trail To The Chief: Hollywood For Ugly People Edition

Luckily, this period ends eventually, and then things get ... well, they remain pretty quotidian, to be honest.

So it's no surprise that in America, the presidents of our cultural imaginations are almost always far more compelling than the ones we actually get. In movies and literature, our fictional leaders come possessed with the magic powers of persuasion that our most blinkered pundits naturally assume every living president should have. When they succeed, they succeed epically. When they fail, they fail extravagantly. Everyone learns an important life lesson about our republic, or everyone dies, basically.

We've imagined our president hundreds of times over by now, so this week, we've identified some of our favorite fake presidents. Many great ones were left on the cutting room floor -- sorry, President Head Of Richard Nixon from "Futurama!" We're sure you'll want to share the ones you liked the most. And to sweeten the pot of playful argument, we've laid our favorite fictitious commanders in chief alongside their real-life analogues. So have at us, everyone.

Photos: Getty, Associated Press, Everett Collection