On this President’s Day
I didn’t get to vote for Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford (no one did, at least in 1972/74), Jimmy Carter, or Ronald Reagan. They were all my President.
I voted for George H.W. Bush. He was my President.
I didn’t vote for Bill Clinton. He was my President.
I voted for George W. Bush. He was my President.
I didn’t vote for Barack Obama. He was my President.
I didn’t vote for Donald Trump. He is my President.
Living in and participating in a constitutional republic doesn’t mean we get our way or we withdraw from the system. It means we have a constitutional framework to elect our leaders, and those elected serve we the people.
That’s what President’s day is about. It’s not about the person serving. It’s about a 200+ year old framework that has allowed a peaceful transition of power between widely differing people/ideologies that has still managed to foster the greatest economic power with the most personally protected freedoms on earth.
Happy President’s Day. To us.
About Author
Charlie
Founder of GeorgiaPol.com; Now weekly columnist Very interested in Georgia and Georginas. Interest in politics is waning daily.
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I will go as far as to admit that he is THE President. Fair enough?
Fun fact: The first time I voted, I voted Libertarian (instead of for Jimmy Carter!). I think it was Ed Clark?
John Anderson maybe?
Ed Clark. 1980. I could have voted in ’76 but I had just turned 18 and moved to GA and didn’t have my act together enough.
By the way, Clark’s running mate in 1980? David Koch. Yes, that David Koch.
In 1988, with Georgia certain to go for GHWB, I voted for Lenora Branch Fulani. A Black, Lesbian, Communist…it doesn’t get much better.
Neither George Washington nor Abraham Lincoln had a middle name. The first President to have a middle name was John Quincy Adams. Here is more information about Presidential middle names. https://chamblee54.wordpress.com/2013/07/24/middle-names-2/
It has been 54 years since a President died in office. This is the longest streak, of living Presidents, in our history. The previous record was 52 years, the time between George Washington and William H. Harrison. https://chamblee54.wordpress.com/2015/12/15/52-years-of-living-presidents/
Lordy I hope there are thoughts and prayers!
I also can’t say that I’ve ever had such a personal connection to any President to say “my” Pres. instead of “The” Pres. That focus on the Office allows a lot of slack for errors, personality disorders, etc., and reduces some emotional volatility associated with those problems. Some may call that callous, but I feel it’s just a way to moderate the passion.
Jimmy Carter’s President’s day topics:
“The vision for the Department of Education when it was created during his one term as president; reflections on the women’s movement and the status of women, and how the role of the president has been affected by technological advancement in information dissemination such as social media.”
Meanwhile, “our” President used that social media to attack and blame several people and groups of people for everything.
Alas…
For me there is generally more than a few things I can admire about any president. I like Benjamin Harrison’s beard, JQ Adams’ intelligence, and John Tyler’s wife. I also include Richard Nixon in this, who was fundamentally dishonest and paranoid.
Donald Trump is a just a complete piece of shit who is unfit for office in a way more than any other president in our history. (Even Millard Fillmore.) However, he was elected so the country going forward will be the real loser in all of this. But hey, any great power has it’s peak and eventual decline.
In the same way that someone like Trump encourages some peoples inner David Duke, suppressing those urges works too. We hope to have leaders that inspire us to be better, not encourage us to be meaner and stupider.
If we suppress our innate racism (or xenophobia, or homophobic or whateverphobic) for long enough, it would disappear. It’s like natural selection for sociology.
I am “praying” for a successful presidency for Trump because his success is my success. His failure is the failure of America. However, he is not “my” president. I did not and would not vote for him under any circumstances. His demeanor and debasement of the office of the president says I should resist normalizing his atrocious behavior. He is the most divisive and unqualified person to occupy the office ever!
Simply could not risk missing this wonderful topic slip by. A chance to ‘get it off my chest’ as it were. President of the United States is fine, thus by default, my President. While I did get to vote for Jimmy Carter, I did not vote for this President, by that same token I would not vote for his opponent. I did go to the poles and cast my ballot for other offices. I am not a supporter of the current President nor the last for that matter or his opponent. I felt strongly enough to vote against the last which left a bad taste. I will share with you my opinion that our last did much better than I expected and hope for the same on our current. This time there was simply no choice, no alternative, no anti vote. Our system of choosing has become so mired in money and crowded with those that would be king it has become impossible for the cream to rise in such a weightless environment. Recalling the field of Republicans that flooded on is an exercise in disappointment. I do find it distressing to endure the constant Trump bashing. It is constant, consumes precious news time but most of all bores me to the point of annoyance. Just report the news. I recall our last president lamenting that he had an entire news channel dedicated to his demise. Now 5 out of 6 seem to relish in everything from innuendo to out right ridicule, for a sitting president. Regularly I switch over to DW to get the European take, it’s there too. PBS Newshour, a program I once enjoyed, mainly to escape commercials, I have had to abandon to avoid Judy’s not even thinly veiled critical tone. David Muir cannot rise above it. So Happy Presidents Day.