Presidents Day
Waking up on Presidents Day, 2009, quick check out the window, still looks like America out there. Obama gets a free throw today. No mockery, despite his chief of staff’s revelation last week that mockery is the new statesmanship … at least until you hit the water’s edge, at which point suckupery … sorry, I just promised no mockery in honor of the day. It is a happy day, because at last the United States of America has well and truly demonstarted that as a nation, we can judge a man by the content of his character, though in this case that remains a mystery and the indicators thus far point to “none of the above” … damn, did it again. Mockery’s a hard practice to break, particularly in an gaga-eyed age of insufferable hope and change.
Anyway, a nod today to the great men who have shouldered the burden of leadership of this great nation. All of them, even the worst of them, because it is an awesome and terrible burden to take on. All flawed in some ways, some more than others. Big shout out to a couple of the standouts among them, those less flawed, those who rose to challenges, even some who strode boldly but failed with sometimes disastrous consequences. Such a great nation, to have been blessed by such great leaders, and the resiliency to withstand, survive and emerge to new greatness in the wake of the lesser ones.
George Washington, led this nation to freedom against great odds, declined to be king.
Jefferson, champion of American liberty, established the United States as a moral force to be reckoned with in the world with his campaign against the Barbary pirates. Smart buy in the Louisiana purchase, initiated one of the great journeys of exploration of all time, the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Madison, architect of checks and balances, defender of American freedom and personally brave, as was his wife, in dire circumstances. Was willing to change his mind on difficult issues such as fiduciary policy.
Jackson, bold and inspired as a military leader, bold and well-intentioned as a political leader. Stands as an example of a great man whose polices were horribly flawed in execution. His financial policy ultimately led to disaster and he gets a black mark for the Indian removal, a sorry chapter in the wretched history of Anglo-European migration and struggle for domination of the New World, though he believed, not unlike others of his time who thought the answer to slavery was removal to Africa, it was a more humane solution.
Lincoln, plenty said lately. I see him as the George Bush of his day, in part because it ticks off the libs to say so, and in part because it is true. Reviled, despised and ridiculed, faced with a dire crisis of national security, he pressed ahead with what he believed to be right, defined what was right for the circumstances he was faced with, and ultimately prevailed.
Theodore Roosevelt, the first modern president, broke up trusts, established national parks, made the United States a major presence on the international stage. Had earlier his own life on the line for the war policy he advocated.
Coolidge, while governor of Massachusetts, established that no one has the right to strike against public safety. Believed government should mind its own business (though, contrary to misconception, supported hedges against the abuse of labor), people should be taxed less, and stood as a shining example of how pols can effectively STFU.
FDR, while he inaugurated the modern welfare state, was an undeniably great leader, shrewd pol and inspirational figure, and got the job done in a big way in World War II, which he began fighting before we entered it.
Harry Truman. Dropped the bomb, ended the war without further loss of American life and with minimal Japanese loss of life. The first and one of the boldest of the Cold Warriors, he faced off the commies, didn’t shy away from hot war, and got voted out for his trouble.
JFK, faced off the commies on several fronts. Believed in America as a moral force for good in the world. The last Democrat to say it and mean it, though LBJ gets points on follow-through. The pair of them also took significant action to advance civil rights, building on work done by Dwight D. Eisenhower and Truman.
Ronald Reagan, faced off the commies in a big way, ended that job, pushed back on the New Deal to restore business to its place as the business of America.
George W. Bush, faced with crisis in the form of a long-ignored challenge that could no longer be ignored, acted boldly, did what he believed was right, ignored the polls and a hostile media, admitted his mistakes and rectified them, defied a surrenderist Congress, left a manageable war for his successor. Bit of a contrast to, say Andrew Jackson … blamed for a financial crisis he didn’t create, vilified for crimes against humanity that weren’t, denounced for policies that actually left the world a better place.
Barack Hussein Obama. Got elected. Restored Hope. Changed.
Sorry, I know said I was going to leave off the mockery today.
It’s a quick and dirty, nothing fancy list. Dicker about those, add and subtract in comments as you choose.
Meanwhile, Surber’s got a veep list. When bench warmers make good. And bad!
OK, the heck with the free throw. Gateway with some President’s Day presidential irony: Hillary blames Bush for Korean nukes.
George Washington had the Whiskey Rebellion. Obama’s got the Porkulus Protest!
Good news: We got through the reign of George Bush II without a reinstatement of the Sedition Acts. Bad news: Obama’s all done making Fairness Doctrine denials.
In other business, guess who’s celebrating El Presidente’s Day(s).
Keeping it Riehl: The disappointment of the left.
Reynolds is plugging Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House (Wall Street Journal Book). He’s got the William Henry Harrison chapter.
Some other Presidents Day reads:
1776 or if you want to upgrade, 1776: The Illustrated Edition
From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 (Oxford History of the United States)
Washington’s Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History)
George Washington (The American Presidents)
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief
The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations (Thrift Edition)
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Nothing to Fear: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship
So much JFK
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:26 am Comments (2) on Monday, February 16, 2009
2 Responses to “Presidents Day”
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February 16th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Lincoln,
No matter what else might be said, he truly placed the safety of the nation above his personal self. How he managed to get through all those terrible years and stay sane is beyond me. He literally wept over the massive losses both sides suffered, for he never accepted the Confederacy as a separate nation, but believed those southern soldiers to be misguided Americans.
He was willing to free all the slaves, or none at all, if either course would keep the nation together and end the war. As it was, he freed some of them, and left others in bondage for Congress to free.
Lincoln always picked the best available man for the job, even if it meant bringing a political rival to power. He knew what needed to be done to destroy the Confederacy and he did it. The issue was never realistically about taking the Confederate capitol at Richmond, or any other of their cities. True, some areas like the Shenandoah, and the Mississippi River needed to be denied to the south because of the food and transport resources they provided.
No, the main target had to be the Confederate armies in the field. As long as the armies existed, the Confederacy would live. When Lincoln was able to appoint Grant as commander of all the federal armies, he had the man to grab hold of the Confederate forces and strnagle them until they surrendered or died.
Not many in the press or the nation understood the real war aims. Many vilified him for the length of the war. But it took time to raise and equip armies, to find and develop leaders. It took three years for that to happen. When grant came aboard, and took the reins, it took but a year to end it all.
The price was also fearful: 650,000 dead on both sides. More than we’ve lost in all our other wars combined, to date. But Lincoln was willing to make the hard choices to keep the nation intact. He put the country and the Constitution over his self, and he paid dearly for that. 2 of his children died in the White House. His wife went insane, and he suffered deep bouts of depression. Heck, for his second term, he even took on a Democrat as his Vice President.
And here we are today. Still together. I’d have to say that Washington & Lincoln are the gold standard by which all other presidencies must be judged.
respects,
February 16th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
First, there IS NO Presidents Day! The Uniform Monday Holiday Act (Pub.L. 90-363), passed in 1968 and enacted in 1971, lists the third Monday in February as George Washington’s Birthday! Period. You can see it for yourself, right here: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2004/winter/images/uniform-monday-holiday-law.jpg
A number of states already had official holidays for Lincoln, but didn’t want to add tot he Federal total of 13 — so the media obliged by re-naming GW’s birthday “Presidents Day”.
This is of a piece with how we’ll soon be remarking how capitalism ALWAYS favored the rich, and we didn’t really need it anyway…