You invented political intrique, now you get to practice it again. Here’s my best to you, and I hope you get better presidential candidates then we’ve gotten the last few elections.
The American dream President: Bill Clinton’s brains, Ronald Reagan’s moral certitude, and George W. Bush’s bonhomie.
What we usually get: George W. Bush’s brains, Bill Clinton’s moral certitude, and John Kerry’s bonhomie.
One Comment
Dubya usually puts me in mind of Justice Oliver Wenell Holmes, Jr.’s comment about FDR, “A second rate intellect but a first rate temperament.”
I think history’s judgement of the four great presidents of the 20th Century will be FDR, Reagan, Eisenhower, and TR. Only TR among them really could be described as brainy. I’ll settle for high character myself, and a first rate temperament seems more important to me than sheer intellect.
Most of the intellectual heavyweights in the WH have not done so well. Hoover is a good example. Carter was supposed to be brainy too. Nixon was actually high on intellectual firepower, probably much more so than Kennedy (his sleazy opponent in 1960). And Bubba himself is an excellent example of how a third rate temperament can torpedo a brainy president.