The Presidential Project

After several years I have finally finished what I've come to call the Presidential Project.  Five years ago, give or take, I set out to read a biography of every single former president.  This past Sunday I finally read the last sentence of Peter Baker's Obama: The Call of History.  "For Obama," he concludes, "history is still calling." started the effort reading Ron Chernow's monumental, Pulitzer Prize winning Washington: A Life.  The book itself proved, far, far more inspired than the rather bare title!  Indeed, good enough that I was more than happy to continue along the path I had laid out for myself.  It was a good thing that the six-hundred page tome on Chester A Arthur was not the first one.  I might have hung it up right there and then!

Finding biographies of some of the presidents, including Franklin Pierce and both Harrisons, proved to be a real challenge.  Others, like Jefferson and Lincoln, provided an abundance of choices.  Several authors guided me through more than one life.  David McCullough and Jon Meacham come to mind as real standouts.

I am often asked if I now have a favorite.  And I do.  A surprise choice for most who ask:  John Quincy Adams.  He was such an intriguing figure.  True, his presidency was basically a bust, but his post-presidential life, and the tenacious way he fought for abolition--collapsing in the end at his desk in the capitol, was and is a real inspiration!

Each of presidents promised to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," most taking the oath in Washington, though others in places like New York City, rural Vermont and even on an jetliner.  Some interpreted that task in such a way as to shape how the Constitution would be understood for years to follow, others in ways that proved detrimental to the cause of freedom. But each of them had what proves to be a more and more complex and difficult job as the years go on.

In this presidential election year, though, we are reminded that ultimately we get the presidents we elect and, many would say, the ones we deserve.  They won't all be Washingtons, Lincolns or Roosevelts. Not even Jeffersons or Trumans.  But whoever we elect will reflect who we are.  And that, I have been reminded by this Presidential Project, is  ever changing.  Sometimes for the good, sometimes for the ill.  But always it is in flux.  History is still calling, not just for Obama, but for all of us.