A NEW PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
(…with five Presidents and First Ladies all in a row)

The new George W. Bush presidential library was dedicated the other day…with five Presidents and First Ladies…all in a row.

It’s this kind of ceremonial occasion that is one of the more interesting aspects of our American political scene, especially when it displays such an array of past and current holders of that office publicly schmoozing together in bonhomie and banter. Where else in the world does one ever see such a convivial gathering of former political rivals? Nowhere else…only in America.

Granted, this –Former Presidents Club – is quite an exclusive one, and rarely appears with so many members at one time, as we saw the other day. So, perhaps we can truthfully say it is the exemplar of what our republic is all about.

We can wrangle loudly about our political viewpoints, and jeer with wild abandon and rhetoric about our differences about them ( sometimes in less than civil terms), but in the end, our Presidents are our Presidents, as we dump the burden of governance on their shoulders…to keep our ship of state on as even a keel as possible. A thankless and hair-graying task since it means trying to herd some 300 million cats…no two of them ever agreeing about what to do…about anything.

Well, some of our Presidents have been better at herding those cats than others. Some, perhaps less so, but when we come right down to it, their overall batting average (considering what they have to work with) is remarkably respectable.

The thing we should never forget, however, is that most of them began their lives and careers much like the rest of us…ordinary folks…with no particular claim to accomplishments or fame…but which circumstances of one kind or another eventually landed them in that Oval Office.

In that sense, these Presidents of ours truly represent us, warts and all…the people… of these United States.

CENTURION