I just finished watching on cspan Washington Journal. They had a segment on FDR. My favorite president of all time and someone I've considered my president all my adult life (when you have only mediocre presidents to chose from in living memory you need to reach to history to find someone great).
It got me to thinking about what many historians say is the one thing that makes for great presidents:
Crisis.
How does a president respond to and deal with a national crisis.
We have two distinct examples of how a President reacts to crisis and if that made that president great of highlighted his failings.
Bush had 9-11. A national tragedy of momentous proportions. How did he respond and what were the steps he took to define his presidency in the wake of this crisis?
From the stunned, deer-in-the-headlights stare when told that morning of 9-11 to his destruction of civil liberties and human rights, to torture to Gitmo to Warrentless wiretapping of Average America Citizens to invading Iraq by playing on people's fears to raiding the treasury to fill the pockets of his corporate cronies with no bid contracts, I would say this president, instead of greatness created a cold, crass and failed presidency.
We are on the cusp of grading another president in times of crisis. Our financial meltdown and the global recession that was sparked by it. And era of unfettered greed and deregulation and allowing Wall Street to do whatever it wanted to brought us to the brink of a depression.
FDR put in place all kinds of regulations and road maps to keep this country from seeing another depression. It worked for almost 70 years. Then in the heat of conservative ideology all of these were torn away and we are now seeing the folly of this conservative philosophy.
To top this off, our failed president is leaving the country with a mess to clean up internationally. He has left the middle east in flames and on the brink for the new president to clean up as well.
Most Americans are riding on a wave of hope and possibility. this new president,if anything, inspires it by his sheer competence and confidence. Barack Obama is seen as a very gifted and brilliant man. And looking back on his campaign, looking now at his transition, you see someone who has reinvented campaigning, politics and the transition of presidents. This only ads to the high hopes of the American People.
Today TIME has unveiled the Person of the Year. It is Barack Obama.
In an interview with the editors he has run down a list for the American People to judge his term by in 2 years:
That's clear when he offers a checklist for voters to use in judging his performance two years from now. It's quite an agenda. Listen: "Have we helped this economy recover from what is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? Have we instituted financial regulations and rules of the road that assure this kind of crisis doesn't occur again? Have we created jobs that pay well and allow families to support themselves? Have we made significant progress on reducing the cost of health care and expanding coverage? Have we begun what will probably be a decade-long project to shift America to a new energy economy? Have we begun what may be an even longer project of revitalizing our public-school systems?"
Then there is the foreign policy issues:
"Have we closed down Guantánamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our Constitution? Have we rebuilt alliances around the world effectively? Have I drawn down U.S. troops out of Iraq, and have we strengthened our approach in Afghanistan — not just militarily but also diplomatically and in terms of development? And have we been able to reinvigorate international institutions to deal with transnational threats, like climate change, that we can't solve on our own?"
Obama is quoted as saying he wants the American people to ask these questions 2 years from now when judging the job he is doing:
"Outside of specific policy measures, two years from now, I want the American people to be able to say, 'Government's not perfect; there are some things Obama does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the government's working for me. I feel like it's accountable. I feel like it's transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what government actions are being taken. I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information"
Will this check list determine if our hopes and the feeling we may be seeing the beginnings of a great president? Will this be the way progressives, suspicious and given to anxiety about politicians and holding their breath in fear of being sold out, see and judge the president this way?
What are you looking for in this presidency and what is that you want out of the government and a president?
Is this a checklist that will give you something to look to in judging the upcoming president?
And how will people know if Obama is a disappointing, good or great president?