Criteria for Good President
Moving into election season, I ask myself: what do we want in a President? Three things:
1. Moral exemplar, however imperfect, in personal and public life, of the values of our country. This is also enhanced by charm, grace, style, humor, dignity.
2. Competence and prudence, demonstrated by experience, in leadership, management, decision-making, handling of crises, and choice of leadership team.
3. Sound, wise social policy to protect the common good, national security, world peace, freedom, prosperity, care for the suffering and vulnerable, including the unborn.
The first is of immense importance and vastly underrated since President Clinton and the triumph of the Sexual Revolution in elite culture.
We are all of us, all the time role models, even "I am not a role model" Charles Barkley. We are all of us all the time looking and imitating others. Mimesis: the great insight of Rene Girard. But especially those in positions of authority...parent, coach, teacher, policeman, politician, priest...embody in their person and radiate the values of the community. Yes, even the garbage man is an icon of hygiene and health; the shoe maker of fairness and skill; the janitor of cleanliness, aesthetics, order. No one (except the pope) so much as the President!
The worst fallacy, in the wake of the Clinton catastrophe, is separation of personal from public life.
Personal is political; political is personal! A good Catholic, Democrat friend of mine remarked of Clinton: that is a private thing. It is like your shoemaker: you don't worry about his private life. But I wondered, if I would not trust the shoemaker with my daughter, why would I trust him with my shoes?
We have had three great presidents who embodied the best of our country in great trials: Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt. Not saints! But strong, good, capable leaders.
In my 76 years we can distinguish among the 14 men 10 decent and 4 indecent.
The Decent Presidents
In surveying the 10 decent presidents, my perspective is non-partisan. As a Democrat-turned-Republican I am surprised that I see a rough equivalency among them. I would grade them all from a C to a B. Each has strengths and weaknesses. None stand out sharply as great or terrible. Each is decent in the sense of adequate, acceptable, satisfactory. Each had moral integrity. Each reasonable competence. Each advanced policies that were arguably good for the country.
The most significant and influential, even today, is Reagan. With my working class sensibility, I never accepted his "trickle down" economics. As a moral conservative, I appreciated his support for unborn life, but he was weaker on this than Trump and even Bush junior. I value a sharp intellect but do not view it as essential for a president who needs more practical competence. Reagan was one of the dimmer intellects, but he more than compensated with sound political and moral instincts and charism. He does deserve credit for the fall of communism, arguably the most significant historical event of my lifetime.
Johnson was the most competent, if tough, and hugely consequential politician. He presided over the civil rights legislation, the singular moral accomplishment of our government in my lifetime. He engineered the War on Poverty which was a noble accomplishment that led to mixed results. His legacy is marred by the Vietnam War, an ambiguous affair, even to this day, in my view, for which I do not judge him harshly.
Personally, I retain a deep affection and fascination for JFK: his vigor, energy, intelligence, charism, grace, dignity, charm, Catholicism, idealism. That was, for me and most Catholics, a Camelot. So transitory. But mostly tragic: when we learned of his marital infidelities and even worse the descent of his family into the decadence of the Sexual Revolution.
My favorite is George W. Bush: strong on life, compassionate conservatism, tremendous effort to fight AIDS in Africa. A decent, basically humble man. His effort to privatize Social Security was politically and morally a mistake. His invasion of Iraq, now universally condemned by the left and the right, was, in my view, not unreasonable given the information available at the time. It did not qualify as a just war, but he did not benefit from a Catholic perspective so I do not judge him harshly.
Similarly: Harry Truman. Decent, down-to-earth, salt-of-the-earth, stand-up-guy! He is also a favorite. But he dropped the Bomb! Huge shadow over his legacy! Like Johnson in Vietnam and Bush in Iraq, he did not benefit from a Catholic understanding of the just war. From his prudential calculus, the bomb saved countless American and Japanese lives. Could he have negotiated a conditional peace? I don't know! I do not judge him harshly. But the Bomb remains as a huge shadow.
Eisenhower, Ford, and Carter all merit a solid C, with their flaws and bright spots. George H. Bush gets a B for his moral character and his history of service in WWII, CIA and as vice president. Even Nixon, notwithstanding the contempt I held for him in my youth and the Watergate scandal, has compensating strengths and looks very good compared to recent presidents.
Indecent Presidents
Clinton, Obama, Trump and Biden are all boomers (or close enough, as Biden is a little older), products of the Sexual Revolution. They are indecent in the strongest sense: immoral, decadent, vile, despicable, nauseating. In their distinctive manners, they desecrate family, marriage, the most powerless and helpless.
Paradoxically, Trump in policy is a stalwart defender of the unborn, the family and religious freedom. He surrounded himself with honorable, competent people. By instinct, he reacted well to an aggressive China and Iran, a lethargic NATO, an uncontrolled border to the South. He presided over a prosperous economy and a world at peace, although I attribute that more to good luck and dynamics beyond his control than to his skill. But his personal behavior, startling narcissism, disparagement of women and foreigners, polarizing pugnacity, absolute disregard for truth, compulsive hatred and resentment, emotional insobriety and dismissal of the constitutional order all make him breathtakingly unfitted for the presidency.
Clinton and Obama both lacked a father and our Catholic faith. I don't expect much from them. They both are talented, intelligent, charming, and well-intended. They both exemplify, Clinton personally and politically, Obama in policy, the moral chaos of the Cultural Revolution.
Biden is by far the Most Indecent President in history: hypocritical Catholic who wears his faith on his slieve; self-professed "family man" who disowns his granddaughter; most pro-abortion president in US history; probably the most intellectually challenged president in our history; globally the weakest American president since WWII with his catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan; one of the few who could challenge Trump in his utter indifference to Truth; and infallible in surrounding himself with equally weak, effete, morally decadent people.
The Good News
With most Americans, I am disgusted with the probable choice we face between Trump and Biden. There is no way I can vote for either of them.
But this week's Republican debate gave me hope. Aside from the cocky, obnoxious, sophomoric Ramashwamy, all seven candidates, even the little known and underwhelming governors Hutchinson and Burgum, displayed competence, experience, character, charisma, moral integrity, and intelligent policy positions. All defend powerless human life. I will happily vote for any of them. Against Biden or Trump, I would give money and time. Each is a solid B. Decent! There is hope for American!
Thank God for the decent leadership we have enjoyed, for the most part, over the last 76 years. Thank God for the decent leadership we still enjoy. May they prevail against our two incompetent, indecent, moronic knuckleheads, Dumb (Trump) and Dumbest (Biden)!
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