Today I am older — by exactly one week, actually — than Abraham Lincoln was when he died.
If I were to fulfill my youthful ambition to surpass Lincoln in the history books now, I suppose the historians would have to put an asterisk next to my name, with a footnote explaining that Lincoln set all his records in a shorter season.
Some have suggested that I should just concede that Lincoln was a better man than I am. Perhaps that’s true, but I still hold a pretty high opinion of myself, and I hate to let it go.
Back in 1970, Senator Roman Hruska, a Republican from Nebraska, defended a disappointing Nixon Supreme Court nominee whom critics had branded a mediocrity. Hruska said:
Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.
I believe John McCain was thinking like Hruska when he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate: he was catering to us mediocre people; expecting us to feel honored that he’d picked someone just like us. But I think he made a mistake.
Americans want Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos on the Supreme Court. We want Jeffersons, Roosevelts and Lincolns in the White House. We want the very best, and we aspire to be better, ourselves. We hold a pretty high opinion of ourselves, you see.
B. Moore | 05-Oct-08 at 9:33 am | Permalink
hello old friend…
first, unlike other members of the lay punditry, i see Mr. Mc’s choice of a lady veep as ‘shrewd’ seems everybody else is flashing the sensationalism of the choice
and no, i didn’t watch the ‘debates’ i jerked TV cable many years ago. MY CHOICE when i realized TV programming had no common reference with the way i have to live and still doesn’t.
dvd and tapes allow me the choice of my own mind candy and i am happy with that
last debate i watched was veep debates of some years ago when Fuhrer Perot chose retired admiral whatziz name. i remember distinctly his statement “why am i here?” i gave the man PLENTY points for his bold honesty and plain talk. you don’t find that in a ‘mediocre’ candidate. the man had simply nothing to lose so why not speak to the obvious? as opposed to shaded half-truths that have been pre-vetted as not to offend anyone
and if you really want to talk about being mediocre, it goes beyond my head… my particular status is well below ‘mediocre’ and i am keenly aware of it. live with that fact everyday
no hubris here, nope.
as for the late Mr. Lincoln as a role model, i have not fully researched him. i only know the handful of facts force-fed me by the educational system
but you, seems you have gone beyond such rote memorization to a bit more depth, from the way you speak. nor would i think of you, personally as mediocre. i’d say a few cuts above your average massed unwashed citizenry, actually
only presidential figure i have personally researched is HST his own memoire writings and the big thick historical volume by McColloch some years back, some machine screens
Eisenhower is a blur. i remember only that Kennedy lied to me. i rememeber LBJ as half-ass and inneffective. nixon with dissapointing feet of clay. Ford as a bumbling place-holder. Carter as too much of a nice guy to be effectual. RR as a heroic hollywood cardboard cut-out/BIG SMILE, rough talk sound-bites.
the first Bush screwed me over, i never even considered making it two. voters got what they asked for the 2nd time around the Bush, and now they bitch about it.
“Billy the C” rode high on lotsa lucky breaks, my thinking, getting out while the getting was good before things went to hell.
i care not a whit who wins, for i will always lose. a lesson that’s been BEAT into me. no candidate can get me to believe otherwise, ever again