President’s Day hasn't given us much reason to celebrate lately
Illustrations: Stav Golan
America commemorates President’s Day next Monday. The hybrid holiday that replaced Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays is now another pretext for a three-day weekend and retail sales sprees. For Americans who lament that the good old US isn’t quite what it used to be, much of the blame can be placed on the Oval Office desk, where the buck is supposed to stop.
The presidency of the United States is undoubtedly still the most prestigious elected position in the world, and certainly the most challenging. Unfortunately, the vast majority of its recent occupants all crafted major decisions that have contributed to the erosion of American power, domestically and internationally.
Many were undeniably tougher on Israel compared to the kid glove treatment they afforded to Arab nations, a foreign policy mistake that deserves further examination.
Precious few left office with their reputations intact. We can begin tracing the decline in the prestige of the office with President Nixon, who was the first sitting president to resign in disgrace. Of the nine presidents who succeeded him since 1974, two faced impeachment proceedings, and a total of four incumbents were denied a second term. Some presidents debased the office by their behavior, while almost all left the American people disillusioned about their elected officials. The following is a concise guide to the long slide of the past half-century.
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