Presidents’ Day is an occasion to sell cars both new and used; it is little more. In fact: It is less. It provides yet another long weekend as it is always on Monday. It fails to connect us to any former president. President’s Monday occurs in some proximity to George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s natal dates. It has nothing to do with either man — although their images are used to sell cars.
If I were to subscribe to conspiracy theories I would suggest that the the purpose of Presidents’ Monday is to distance us from our history. One dead president is like any other. Those several we consider “Great Presidents” earned his distinction by getting a lot of people killed in his administration. (Theodore Roosevelt makes this cut because he seemed so eager to lead us into war.) You can become president by promising to “keep us out of war” but for any potentially GP it is a promise best forgotten once in office. As our President Bush fades into the sunset his star will begin to rise. More than enough people died in his administration. In futurity his “Greatness” is assured. Am I right, or am I right?
I entirely agree with the sad commercialization of Presidents’ Day, but, cynic that I am, I can’t foresee the day when Herr Shrub’s star rises much farther than its present position. W fiddled Nero-like these past eight years. He’s left the USA in worse economic shape than it’s been in my lifetime, and as a result the world’s financial systems are tanking. Riots are breaking out in cities all over. Who knows where we’ll all be this time next year.
Sure, he got a few thousand American soldiers killed during his tenure, but his policies also led to hundreds of thousands of dead and displaced Iraqis and have fertilized a breeding ground for terrorist recruitment in Afghanistan and a nuclear-armed Pakistan. He transformed his country from a global leader to a near-global enemy. He ignored New Orleans as he chose to ignore global warming. He chose fundamentalism over science. Even my fellow Americans aren’t gullible enough to ever consider Bush anything other than a “great” failure. I hope…