Today we celebrate President’s Day in honor of, ostensibly at its roots, the birthdays of George Washington (February 22) and Abraham Lincoln (February 12). Would either have been elected if they were on the ballot today? One was part of the 1%, the other trod on the constitution…would they have survived any primary process, today?
Washington was austere, distant, and a far cry from the “personable” man who so many Americans seem to want in their highest elected official…you know, someone they could get a beer with. Washington’s wealth and social position, besides putting him well outside of that class, was in many respects, the incentive and grievances that drove him to seek the post of commander-in-chief of the continental army in the War of Independence. His reasons for fighting were not solely liberty, but in many respects tied to the confiscation of his frontier property by a distant British government. He was, in those days standards, part of the 1%, taking full advantage of the benefits of slavery, a military career, and real estate speculation to gain wealth far above the average American. (Newt Gingrich would have pilloried him in the South Carolina Primary with super PAC ads questioning the source of his wealth while Rick Santorum would have questioned whether he believed in God since he didn’t attend church regularly…and lets not even start with Thomas Jefferson).
Lincoln, on the other hand, was an adept story teller, a master of the English language, and the diplomatic leader that Doris Kearns Goodwin depicts in her 2005 “Team of Rivals” who could unite disparate and disagreeable personalities to a common cause. He was someone that people could, and did, like. That said, he was no constitutional conservative. He spent much of his first term ignoring what modern day Tenth Amendment activists trumpet as states rights, ignoring habeas corpus, and ending slavery by executive order…all actions that were, at the time, unconstitutional. Ron Paul would be righteously indignant.
Yet, without a doubt, these two men are widely regarded as our greatest presidents. One gave birth to the union and is the “Father” of our country. He was, and is, “[f]irst in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.” The other was “shrank from no responsibility[,]” even when that responsibility meant holding the country together at a time when popular will and constitutional interpretation worked against him. The fought, each, for union and for the liberty and the rights and the idea that this country is, the great experiment that was first in this world: a government for and by and of the people.
Would we have elected such men today? Would either have survived the whims and fickle of a twenty-four hour media and an American Idol attuned generation?
Would George Washington or Abraham Lincoln ever become president?
