The Measure of a Man

I think the true measure of a man or of a woman for that matter is what they do with the entirety of their life.  No snapshot in time is good enough.  Only looking back at what they did, how they gave, how they treated others is it truly possible to pass judgement.

As sparks fly in American presidential politics I think it is important to look back at our past presidents within living memory and consider what kind of men they were.  I think if anything is a true measure of the person it occurs in the post presidential years.  These are the years when these men whom reached the pinnacle of their own egos and power have to find a new voice and a new role.  They have spent their lives climbing in office and suddenly they can go no further.  They reached the zenith of ambition.

I am not ashamed in the least at my liberal leanings and perhaps the error of my entire premise is that I approach it from a liberal perspective.  Liberals tend to focus on the we not the me and on humanity as a whole.  We see success as the betterment of everyone and failure in the absence of this.

Eisenhower (Grade B)
Dwight Eisenhower's post presidential existence was not stellar.  He retired quietly and lived out his final years.  Perhaps he is the one president that might deserve a break as he accomplished an enormous amount during his life time.  A soldier in the First World War he rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.  In World War Two his political savvy and intelligence led our armies through minefields and on to victory.  As president he built the roads that connected a nation and still connect us today.  His words about the military industrial complex still echo in our minds as we know we have realized the fruits he so adamantly warned us against.  He was a man that spent his life in public service and in truth embodied what it feels like to be a public servant.  I wonder what he would have thought of today's political climate that seeks to vilify public servants and government.

Kennedy (Grade = (?))
Kennedy was spared post presidential judgment in the most tragic way.  Yet born to a family that has embodied public service he spent his early life in the Navy and it can only be assumed would have spent his post presidential life following in the footsteps of his families philanthropic endeavors. Sadly we will never know the answer to the question of his legacy.

Johnson (Grade = D+)

Somewhere written in the facial lines of a man that emerged from a state that has given us three presidents in the modern era Lyndon Johnson was a man of strong will and political ambition.  While presiding over one of the singularly most important events in American history, the passage of Civil Rights, he embarked on the Great Society trying to refocus America in an effort to care for the poor and those unable to care for themselves.  Those efforts are still debated today and form the centerpiece of Republican rhetoric used against Democrats and liberals.   We see it in every attack on public housing, food stamps, medicaid and medicare. Johnson is also known as the man who for the good of society, sacrificed the political ambitions of his party in the southern United States for at least a generation.  Johnson is a complex man and knowing what was done for political expediency and what was done for the benefit of society is a fine line difficult to determine.


Johnson's presidency was ultimately doomed by the clouds of the war in Vietnam. It is ironic that he died the day before a final armistice was signed.  His post presidential years were mostly spent keeping to himself and likely wondering what might have been.




Nixon (Grade = D)
Nixon requires little comment as his in office actions passed final judgement on the legacy of his life.  In his post election years he made a few feeble attempts to rehabilitate himself through foreign visits and interviews yet they seemed to echo the failure of a man who sacrificed his presidential legacy at the hands of scandal and political power plays.  He might have done better had he focused on common Americans as opposed to reaching for the reins of lost political glory.  The irony of life is that in the spectrum of American political politics Nixon today occupied the position now filled by Democrats.

Ford  (Grade = F)
Would you believe I almost forgot him.  Gerald Ford is a simple bookend that will be remembered with all the prominence of James Garfield.  A talented politician as president he simply held a position.  His post presidential years were equally boring.  His greatest accomplishments were likely interwoven in rounds of golf.

Carter (Grade = A)
While some ambitions of Jimmy Carter were clairvoyant and noble like his drive for clean energy that if followed would have provided a vastly different America today.  Overall his presidency was a disaster.  What stands out most in the life of Jimmy Carter is what he has done post presidential.  If anyone has set a gold standard for public service it has been Jimmy Carter.  While conservatives still use him as a punch line to their jokes President Carter has dedicated his life toward such worthy causes as world peace, Habitat for Humanity, peaceful resolution to conflict and a long list of other actions.  Every Democratic president that has followed him lives in his shadow and every Republican president should. 

Reagan (Grade = D)

Ronald Reagan for conservatives represents the second coming of Christ.  He has become an icon of conservatism while few conservatives today resemble him in the least.  Regan has to be given somewhat of a break because six years after leaving office he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.  He spent his final years in a battle with his own mind and memories. That said he did have six years to prove something and he used it for nothing.  He lived out his years in Santa Barbara, California content to be the icon he had become. 

Bush 1 (Grade=C)

When you look back at Bush 1 you can't help but wonder what in the hell happened to Bush 2.  How could such a different person have been created?  While both call the same political party home Bush 1 was an intelligent and well spoken man that despite certain misgivings seemed to understand history and the world.  A Navy veteran he had not spent his life being coddled as his son ultimately was.  I truly believe that Pappy Bush represented the last gasp of the conservatives I knew as a child.  They were well meaning men with a slightly different approach to governing.  They understood what was in self interest and what was in the interest of the nation and they put the nation before all else. Compromise wasn't a dirty word, it was a function of government.  While his post presidency is in no way above and beyond himself he has spent some time on worthy causes like Hurricane Katrina and Haiti.   How much beyond simply lending his name remains to be seen.  Aside from that he parachutes out of planes and gives a speech here and there celebrating things named after him.


Clinton (Grade =  A-)

Bill Clinton certainly had his personal failings during his tenure as president but one thing he always did well was connect with the American people.  For some reason when he spoke to you, you always felt as if he actually got it.  The post presidential career of Clinton had been exemplary.   Tsunami Relief, Haiti Relief, Katrina Relief, HIV causes, the Clinton Global Initiative, Malaria the list goes on and on.  Clinton is relatively youthful and seems to be in a quiet competition with Jimmy Carter to be remembered and adored. 

Bush 2 (Grade = F)
How Bush 2 is related to Bush 1 I will never know.  The best I can figure is that he was so neglected as a child the only thing he developed was personal insecurity and a need to prove something to his father.  Eight years later the country was the victim of two wars and endless bellicose attitude designed to show he was more of a man than his father.  Bush's post presidential career is equally depressing.  It would best be symbolized by tumble weeds rolling through the ranch he bought just before he ran for president.  The goal was likely to show America that he was a man not a rich coddled northeast prep school  and Yale graduate. 

With the exception of Kennedy and Eisenhower all of those mentioned have governed during my lifetime.  I wonder how many more presidents I will know before I die. I truly believe that a man is judged by his actions and the only way to gain a true measure of the individual is to examine the way they live their life.  What benevolence or charity do they commit themselves to?  Some like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have pledged their fortunes to charity.  Others like candidate Romney seem more concerned with amassing their millions.  I am sorry Mitt, a tything to the Mormon Church does not count.  The heirs of the Walmart fortune, over 108 billion dollars, some of the richest on the planet, give less than 1% of their wealth to charity.  The top six are worth more than the bottom 30 percent of Americans. The company has made some efforts to modify its stingy reputation yet the goal seems to be more out of public relations as opposed to good for humanity.  The company has increasingly become involved in politics and count themselves among the Koch's as the largest giver's to the Republican party.

Our presidents while leaving office wealthy men are not in the ranks of the super rich.  What they leave office with is arguably more important, a reputation. Only when the veil of political ambition is lifted can you truly apprise the true measure of the person.  Are they content to sit on their name and connections or do they still believe their is a function of public service?  For our current president time will tell yet the legacy of his life speaks well for him.  For our past presidents the story has been or is being written as we now see how much they really cared about the people of the nation and of the world they once led.