Commentary 18 Feb 2008 09:53 am
President’s Day
- Today is President’s Day.
Banks, Post Offices, Government workers all have the day off. I, on the other hand, have a lot of meetings today, and think I would prefer being at home sleeping. The three Presidential candidates have a busy day preparing for the big vote tomorrow in Wisconsin and Hawaii. Hillary cut her trip a day shorter to return to Texas, today, so it’s assumed that Wisconsin is closer to Obama’s hands. She seems to have consistently abandoned her workers in any state where she smells a loss. John McCain is out there being angry and arrogant somewhere.
That’s the Empire State Building to the left. It’s lit red, white and blue for the holiday weekend. My apartment is on 30th Street just east of the building. It was always pleasant that in walking the street you could get a nice slice of an image of the building at night. However, lately, all the construction in the neighborhood has made it a bit difficult. (Remember those photos of cranes I posted last year? Well, the cranes are gone, and buildings have arisen.) Many of these new, overly large buildings cut off the view. You really have to look to catch the Emp State Bldg. It’s too bad. I guess that’s part of the problem with “progress.
Once upon a time we celebrated two holidays in February: Lincoln’s Birthday on Feb. 12th and Washington’s Birthday on Feb. 22nd. In 1968, the holidays were combined it into the one date. Today, kids don’t remember who’s birthday it represents, and the media seems to be celebrating all presidents. Yesterday AOL had a poll to pick the 10 top Presidents. (Can you believe George W. Bush landed at spot #10? Even Woodrow Wilson had to have been more valuable. No?) We seem to be losing all sense of history. The kids on AOL probably just couldn’t name any more Presidents than the 10 they came up with.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 12:49 pm 1.Tom Sito said …
Nice post Michael, I’d like to comment on your musing why George Washington made the top ten list. Top Ten Lists are silly in general, if this was the 1960s Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower would be near the top.
But George Washington must always be recognized for his importance to the the presidency. Not just for winning the Revolution, but for making this strange institution of an elected executive monarch work. Everything he did became a custom, like the State of the Union speech, and seeking the advice and consent of Congress for treaties.
But his most important contribution was his deciding to leave office after two terms. If he had desired to stay for life, no one would have seriously challenged him. He did what Fidel, Mao and now Mr Putin could never bring themselves to do, namely, to walk away from ultimate power. One of the most significant acts he did was at the Innaugeral for second President Adams. After Adams was sworn in, Adams paused at the top of the stairs for Washington to leave first. Washington stopped and insisted:” No Sir, you are now the President. You go first.”
Sounds trivial, but in a world of kings and potentates, this education in republican etiquette was pretty empowering stuff. I don’t know what GW would think of signing statements.
Now, why Ronald Reagan is anywhere on that list…?
on 18 Feb 2008 at 1:03 pm 2.Michael said …
Sorry, I must have written incoherently. I wondered not about George Washington but George W. Bush! My mistake was in having written about Washington and then saying George W. when referring to the list. I’ve corrected that in the post.
Washington should be #1 to me – he kept his White House in NYC. George W. Bush should be number 72 – give enough room so future Presidents can move ahead of him.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 1:12 pm 3.Michael Crawford said …
LOL @ #72 – Are you sure you don’t want to give him more space than that? Just in case?
It makes me very, very sad that he’d wind up on a Top 10. Reagan too. They say that whoever is ignorant of history is doomed to repeat it; folks must be pretty ignorant these days because it’s been repeating on me for eight years now.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 4:29 pm 4.Tom Sito said …
Ohhhhhhhhhhh…THAT GW. ….Yeah, a Hollywood player once told me ” The American Public has the attention span of a mosquito” . Hopefully these guys that bug us, twenty years from now, will be as remembered as Harold Stassen and Franklin Pierce.
on 18 Feb 2008 at 5:18 pm 5.Paul Spector said …
Speaking of short term memory: Nixon was continually vilified by the press when he was alive. When he died I couldn’t believe that so many reports were so kind (not that I believe in killing the dead twice, but c’mon!).
As for the Empire State Builing — I lived in the City for 17 years, and used to be able to see it from so many different spots around town. Now, when I drive in, I make sure to check out the skyline because I’m never sure I’ll see it once I’m through the tunnel.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 12:46 am 6.Thad Komorowski said …
I read somewhere that Bush claims he cries before he goes to sleep every night. I don’t blame him. If I was going down in history as one of the worst presidents America ever had, I’d bawl too.
on 19 Feb 2008 at 1:21 am 7.Floyd Norman said …
Harold Stassen?!
Nice one, Tom.