Presidential Heritages

One person’s opinions of presidential heritages in his lifetime.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I don’t actively remember him as I was born during his presidency. But he is in my working memory as a student of history and we have the memories of our parent and grandparents. To took charge of country that was in deep trouble, the Great Depression and make hard, difficult and unpopular decisions that got the country working and prosperous again. We need his principles again today and we have the same wealth distribution he faced. Oh yes, he led us during, again in my opinion, the last justified war we fought. It is important to note that the media in his day went out of their way not to show his polio informative, a condition that had little or no affect on his ability to do the work of his office. I think of it as responsible media coverage with a heart.

Dwight Eisenhower. He was a nice guy and a good leader whose election indicated the American public prefers non intellectual appearing leaders. He played a lot of golf, prophetically warned of the danger of the military industrial complex but lacked the intellect of his opponent Adlai Stevenson (that does not mean he was stupid, he was smart). He falls in the line of the predilection this country has for elected war heroes and leaders. Again, one of his great foresights was seeing the need of building a strong infrastructure than would benefit the country and began that in the building of the interstate roads. Unfortunately his successors failed to follow up on his lead.

Harry S. Truman. He is the man who took over responsibilities of the office when FDR died. He is likely best known for dropping the atom bombs on Japan, which effectively ended the war. It also made us known at the only country that ever did such a horrendous act. He seem to rise to the leadership of office required at the time and coined the phrase, “the buck stops here.” He reminds me in a way of Indira Gandhi, who recognized as she rose to the challenge being Prime Ministry in India and gained her abilities as needed when she assumed the office.

John F. Kennedy. I see Kennedy as a man who had the vision to inspire a country. It was also a non stuffy intellect. His book, Profiles in Courage should be one of those required readings for politicians and voters as to the true purpose of leadership; to be persons of courage who live by their principles despite political cost. He also is likely the last president who personal life peccadilloes were not reported by the media at the time, when the media stuck to hard news rather than tabloid type material.

Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson was known for his ability to work with his colleagues in getting bills passed in congress. He was also known for driving like a maniac on Texas roads. The unpopular Vietnam War, the first to be shown on TV in citizens living rooms with all its gore; contributed greatly to his not running for second term in office following his Presidency after he succeeded John Kennedy’s death in office.

Richard Nixon. Despite his famous quote, “I’m not a crook” demeaned the white house and disgraced the country and who fed the concept that presidents were not subjects to the laws of the land. A man whose foreign policy accomplishments were far over shadowed by his lack of character and bringing the presidency to disgrace.

Gerald Ford. Had the unfortunate problem of following Nixon and though athletic become famous for falling down.

Jimmy Carter showed that we truly are a biblical illiterate country who neither supports nor affirms Christian principles as pragmatic or realistic. He is a man of tremendous personal character and leadership who his was not to taken seriously as he should have been. His greatest achievements seem to have taken place after his presidency in the area of peace making.

Ronald Reagan. In my opinion was the worst president of the 20^th-21^st century. He was a grade B actor known as the “great communication” who had difficulty with complex sentences let alone ideas. Somehow managed to convince a country that it could increase spending, lower taxes and that making rich people richer would make the rest of us better off economically. The concept is known as supply side economics and popularized by George Bush who called it Voodoo economics. He created the greatest ratio of debt ever in our country largely in military expenditures. He began as path that has led to the present which redistributed the wealth of the country to an elite few to the detriment of the middle and lower classes. Today it takes two incomes in a family to have the same standard of living a single income family had in his date. It is a failed economic policy that remains popular for reasons beyond my comprehension.

Bill Clinton. He may have proved you can be the brightest guy on the block and demean and embarrass the country through personal peccadilloes. Who also brought to the attention of the world that the media had changed from reported to serious subjects to the sensational. His presidency and he is still popular as he was the one who balanced the budget and put the economy of a firm foundation for a short period of time. A tremendous talent full of hubris and could have gone down in history as a far greater president had he possessed more personal character. He’s like the bad boy girls like to marry with the idea they can reform them.

George. W. Bush. Is a man who proved an intellectually limited could be elected president, who also could take positive world opinion (follow 9/11) and destroy it by his personal vindictiveness and manipulations of evil puppeteers, ie. Dick Cheney his vice president. His continuation of Reagonomics/supply side economics, increased the debt to a huge level. He funded a war by not asking the country to sacrifice but by borrowing from the Chinese making us a great debtor nation. His continuation of the deregulation of corporate and tax reductions and tax advantages for the wealthy Americans led to the Wall Street and major corporate crises and bailouts. His presidency lead to the concentration of wealth, more than half of it, being placed in the hands of the upper 1% of the upper 1%, 1,400 people, and the same level as it was at the Great Depression.

Barack Obama. This president likely became president during one of the most difficult times in American history. The economic structure was in shambles, the debt was sky-high, and politicians were seen as self-serving demons. He creatively used the internet to create a political fund that superseded the traditionally better funded Republican Party. He is a man of tremendous intellect, having a PhD in constitutional law and wrote a book on the par of John Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage, The Audacity of Hope, which shows a great understanding of this country and how it is possible to work together. Unfortunately, he became president at a time where it would have been next to impossible to please the populace and was consistently blamed for the errors of his presidential predecessor. He made history in becoming the first black president of the U.S.A. He also seems to be able to keep his good humor and positive stance in the midst of a very difficult presidency. His major mistakes I believe was extending the Iraqi war into Afghanistan and not being as forceful as necessary in promoting his ideas for economic recovery. He also is president at a time when congress lacks moderates which get things done. What he faces are entrenched opponents whose agenda is nothing other than to defeat him as president not matter what the costs to the country.