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Edited on Tue Apr-15-08 06:42 PM by SoCalDem
Looking back on all the presidents we have had, I found a pretty common thread.. This thread also unraveled may an "also-ran".
The people who run for President, most often have something to live UP to or to live DOWN..
I don't know all that much (or remember) about presidents prior to Kennedy, but we'll start there..
Joe kennedy ,Jr. was the favored son. He was the Golden Boy. The Kennedys had money, but lacked a certain respectability that Old Joe craved.
Young Joe would be the war-hero-turned politician, and would carry the family banner into the sunlight of REAL American aristocracy.
We all know what happened to young Joe..
John, no doubt could have been happy as a clam, playing the field and hanging out once he came back from the war, but now he was next in line to fulfill his father's ambition.
Old men dream dreams for their sons...often very different dreams than the sons', but the father's dreams often prevail.
Kennedy got himself an acceptable wife, and rode his father's dream-horse all the way to Arlington National Cemetery..
Enter Bobby... No Arlington for him..not even the presidency, but he did his best to pick up on the father's dream, and to try and right the wrong done to his brother.
I do not count LBJ here, because he was an accidental president (as most vice presidents are)..
Nixon was an odd duck. He apparently was the Rodney Dangerfield of our Presidential Club.. Never got any respect.. I'm guessing that during his growing up years, he probably felt insignificant, cheated and looked down upon. His tenure as president was all about proving how smart he was..how clever he was..how bold he could be. He set out to be the best president, and ended up being (almost) the worst.
Carter grew up poor and although he set out to prove that a non-rich man could grow up and become president (he did prove that), he ended up proving that powerful enemies can (and often do) doom even the most decent people. He tried to prove to himself and his state that presidents from little backwater places like Plains, Georgia could succeed.
Reagan was out to prove that he was not a lightweight, actor from Hollywood. Contrary to what we are told, he did NOT succeed. If his (probably well censored, by now) papers ever see the light of day, scholars will probably find out that he was just playing another "role", and the actual running of the country was going on all around him, but not BY him.. he was the icon..and little more..
Which brings us to George Herbert Walker Bush.. The act of laying a name like that on a newborn baby tells us a lot about that family, doesn't it? An ordinary name would not do for him. It's not surprising to me that he was in the military. As a "connected" son, he could have gotten out of it, but his father Prescott had all that nasty Nazi stuff swirling around him and "the family reputation". No doubt, young GHWB felt obligated to help Dad out. Thus started a long and ugly saga that we are still living down.
Once one has suckled at the government teat, it must be difficult to be weaned off it, because all these decades later GHWB is still "involved".. His vice presidency years under Reagan were actually HIS first two terms, followed by one of his own.
Enter Bill Clinton...also out to prove something. Grown up poor to an alcoholic father, an abuser..and raised by a rather colorful mother, he grew up intelligent and determined to rise to the top. He had something to prove too. ...Perhaps to show people that he could rise above his beginnings. His terms as governor set him up well, and he managed to undo the dreams of another GHWB term, but once in office, his demons took over, and he too was undone by powerful enemies. Carter was undone by some of the same enemies, but for very different reasons. Even with all he put himself, and us through, he left office admired and liked by most of the people here and abroad.
Some also rans:
Gore could have escaped Viet Nam too, but his father was mired in electoral difficulties , and having a son in the war helped him..it also provided a platform for young Gore to enter Dad's "business". Al Gore, Jr. probably felt a strong obligation to his father and his occupational choices, and once in..it's hard to escape the grip of high-level politics. You either leave old and decrepit, or you get pushed out. Oddly, the pushing out of Al Gore led to a higher prominence than even he could have ever expected.
Kerry had something to prove too.. He has tried many times to become president, and no matter how smart he is/was..no matter that he went willingly to Viet Nam when he did not have to, he still had something to prove.. he tried to prove that he could be a north-eastern, intelligent, genteel president, but apparently was too "gentlemanly" to prevail.
George Bush, the lesser had much to prove too.. He wanted to prove that he was BETTER than his "old man".. That he could do anything, and get away with it..and could serve two terms..not one.. he would finish Dad's war, and could go down in history as the most effective president ever... He failed miserably
Which brings us to the only "non-son" in the bunch. Hillary NEEDS to be president to validate herself and her husband's administration. She probably feels as if all their good works have been trashed by George, the lesser..and if only she can get in there some way..any way, she can "fix it. She's out to prove that a woman can be president. She feels entitled to it, because of all the hard work she did, and all the slings and arrows she has withstood. She's drawn up a battle plan for her own private Pyrrhic War.. Even if she wins..she still loses more.
McCain gets high marks for his heroism, but he also was out to prove that he could be as good of a military man as all the men in his family. He did not take the "early-out" from the POW camp, but he also could NOT take it. the horror of the shame it would have drawn to his father, is probably what kept him there. He has always been a government guy.
Obama has the least to prove. His mother is dead, so is his father. He grew up modestly, but not poor. He's successful in his own right. He'd probably like to be the first Black president, but I don't get a sense of desperation to his run. His run is probably more meaningful to his supporters, than to him. he and his wife have told us that "this is IT". He's running once..take it or leave it. He's not going to be like most of the others...running every chance they get, if only to prove to themselves that "this time will be different".
If he manages to run the gauntlet, he will prove that 40 years ago a dream dreamt came true.. but the hard work of daylight needs to be stronger than any dream.
The expectation thread connects all our presidents and wannabees.. Some get the thread trimmed and tossed away, and some weave it with others into a tapestry.
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