The Presidents of my lifetime

My last post made me think about the Presidents in my lifetime. I was born in 1971, which was during Nixon's presidency. Of course I don't remember any of his presidency but history says he wasn't a great president. After Nixon was Ford, who didn't leave much of a mark on the world. Jimmy Carter followed Ford and he was the first President I remember. I remember my dad speaking unfavorably of him. He was derisively called "that peanut farmer". He failed in his attempts to rescue the hostages held by Iran. The economy was bad. Relations with the USSR became worse. So far, in my short life of 9 years, we had three pretty bad presidents.

Then came Ronald Reagan. An actor for president? Why not? During this time, my family became much more wealthy. My friends thought of me as rich, although I never felt rich. We didn't belong to a country club or have the latest fashions. We did have a summer house on a lake in Michigan with a speed boat. I got whatever I wanted within reason. (No trips to Hawaii or anything like that, but I got the toys I wanted.) I never had the sense that my parents were worried about money, although they probably were. Still I never had to choose between two activities because we could only afford one. Economically, the 80s were good for my family. So economically from my personal perspective, I guess Reagan did okay. (I believe that trickle down economics doesn't really work. However, in my case, we didn't need the trickle - we were the ones who were supposed to be trickling.)

In foreign policy, his work with Gorbachev ended the Cold War. That accomplishment alone puts him high on the list of best presidents. He was certainly better than any who came before him during my lifetime. Still, even Reagan had his one big scandal - Iran Contra. American traded arms to Iran to try to release hostages (didn't work) and then gave the proceeds to Nicaraguan rebels. Reagan came out of that one looking like a man who didn't know what was going on in his own adminstration. He became the befuddled president and when it was revealed after he was out of office that he suffered from Alzheimer's, everyone wondered how long he had been affected. This was my main view of President Reagan as I was old enough during Iran Contra to actually follow what was going on. So I didn't think that highly of him either.

Then came Bush who sent us to war with Iraq the first time. I wasn't against that war, but felt we should have finished the job then when we had reason to do so. I never cared for Bush, he certainly didn't inspire me, but I didn't like Dukakis either. Bush is remembered for his "Read my lips. No new taxes." comment. Whoops. We got taxes, the economy went downhill, and Bush was kicked out after four years.

Then came Clinton, with whom I agreed on most value issues (with one glaring exception). Looking at his accomplishments as President, he did a good job overall. Economically, the country did well. Still, his presidency is tarnished because he decided to have sex with an intern. A lot of Democrats feel this was not an important issue, that it was used to try to bring down a great president. "His personal life doesn't impact his ability to lead as president." I think that's nonsense. We're talking about the president of the United States, we have to expect better of him (or her). At the time, I felt Clinton was a sneaky weasel who used his power to get sex. That doesn't spell P-R-E-S-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L to me. And the impact of his actions have lead us to two terms of George W. Bush, who appropriated the values that Clinton threw aside and suddenly, miraculously the Republicans became the people who have values and morals. What the Dems needed to do was denounce Clinton's actions. Their failure to do so had a terrible impact on our country.

And now we have George W. Bush. He has taken away our freedoms. He has reverted to the antiquated theory of pre-emptive war. He has pushed his religious agenda on the country. For my family, the economy sucks. He is by far the worst president in my lifetime.

But the point of this post is that we haven't had a great President in my 33 years of life. A decent one here and there, but not one that I consider great. Are my standards too high? I want a leader, someone I can look up to, someone we would consider an American Hero. Why can't we elect that person?

Maybe it's the media's fault. That'll be the next post.