Our former presidents haunt our popular culture. We plaster their portraits on dollars and cents. We carve their faces on a giant rock in South Dakota.
When we go to Disney World, we see creepy animatronic versions of our presidents bob their heads at us after watching a movie where Morgan Freeman informs us they were all one of us.
Even the bad presidents hold an odd place in American culture. To use the words a bunch of kids on an episode of "The Simpsons" sang in The Mediocre Presidents Song, the adequate, forgettable,/occasionally regrettable/caretaker presidents are getting their due. The Washington Nationals feature The Racing Presidents who compete at home games. Traditionally, it had been the four ex-presidents on Mount Rushmore competing -- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt whose 525 race losing streak came to an end early last October. Theyve been joined this season by -- of all our former presidents -- William Howard Taft.
While he is probably best known today for his immense size and being the only president who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court, Taft was a pretty unpopular president. Despite their initial strong relationship, Teddy Roosevelt came to resent Taft and challenged him for the Republican nomination back in 1912. While party loyalists helped ensure Taft had the Republican nomination, Roosevelt bolted the GOP to run as a third party candidate. In the general election, Taft, who had won the White House with a popular majority four years before, only pulled 23 percent of the vote. But now Taft is running around the baseball field with four other presidents.
No matter how bad they do in the White House, former presidents bounce back in the publics eyes. Americans might not want Jimmy Carter in the White House and often tune out his foreign policy advice, but he remains admired for his charitable works like Habitat for Humanity. Years after he was tossed from the White House, Herbert Hoover was chairing high-profile panels looking to cut government waste.
This week, there was evidence George W. Bush was getting a bit of a bounce. Gallup released a poll showing Bush was no longer upside down with the American public. While 46 percent still see Bush unfavorably, 49 percent see the former president as favorable. Its the first time in eight years that Bush wasnt upside down in Gallups polls. When he left office, only 40 percent viewed Bush as favorable and 59 percent saw him as unfavorable. Things grew even worse two months after Bush left the White House. Only 35 percent of those surveyed by Gallup in March 2009 saw Bush as favorable while a whopping 63 percent saw him as unfavorable.
Bush can take some inspiration from an unlikely source -- the Democrat who beat his father back in 1992. While he survived an impeachment attempt, Bill Clinton limped out of office despite the unprecedented economic boom he presided over. Gallup found only 39 percent of Americans saw Clinton favorably in the months after he left the White House. Clinton is now one of the most popular political figures in America, as he proved in 2012 when he was one of Barack Obamas chief surrogates. Bush, on the other hand, was a no-show to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa.
How Americans view Clinton and Bush could have implications come 2016. After the 2012 election, Bill Clintons standing with Democrats seems at an all-time high which could help Hillary Clinton if she makes a second presidential bid. On the other side of the aisle, Jeb Bush could be looking to follow in his fathers and brothers footsteps and make a presidential bid of his own. While America is long since cured of Clinton fatigue, George W. Bush could still be a bit of an anchor weighing down his brother in 2016. But, as the Gallup poll shows, the anchor is starting to get a little lighter as Americans put the second Bush presidency in the rear view mirror.
At least George W. Bush wont have to worry about his old employer having fun with him this year. With the Texas Rangers locked in an exciting pennant race against the Oakland As in the AL West, we shouldnt be seeing the former president race against his father and LBJ in Arlington. Now the Houston Astros on the other hand. ...
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at 904-521-3722.
