Sunday Morning Post (V.3, #11) - A Good Class of People

A very exclusive group of gentlemen has recently made a public service announcement talking up the virtues of getting vaccinated.  It’s the Ex-President’s Club, comprised of four gentlemen.  Well, officially four gentlemen and one schmuck.  We’ll get to the last guy a little further on.

The television spot is just the latest public service these men have done in careers that have lasted many years.  The club is small and very exclusive, because its membership is derived from the small group of surviving Commander-in-Chiefs for the United States.  Only these men have experienced the pressures that are unique to being the POTUS. Each knows what the job entails and each aged while they were serving their term.  With that knowledge comes a certain amount of respect for the other members. The environment of mutual admiration encourages each of them to continue serving the country they obviously love very much.

JAMES EARL CARTER

The oldest of the group at 95.  The first Democrat elected President after the Nixon Republicans all but destroyed the everyday American citizen’s confidence in its own government.  Unfortunately, Mr. Carter only got one term in office, having to make way for the Great Communicator, and unable to shake his image as a country bumpkin unfamiliar with the evils found inside the Beltway.  No matter.  Carter has continued to serve America with his Habitat for Humanity projects and various projects around the world promoting the concept of democracy.

WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON

Another former governor from a southern state who was able to oversee a great period of prosperity during his two terms.  His desire to reform healthcare never got a chance to become law, but the idea took hold, left for a later progressive to get the major initiative passed.  Clinton had his flaws; a flair for over confidence, or perhaps downright arrogance got him impeached for lying about an affair.  He survived the impeachment and continues to administer projects through the Clinton Foundation.

GEORGE WALKER BUSH

Long time readers of my blog may remember that I did not care for Bush, President #43, while he served.  I would regularly poke my satirical spear at him and the ipso facto real leader of the United States at that time, Darth Cheney.

Ah, fun times, fun times.

In recent years, my animosity towards Bush has cooled and I dare say my respect for him is growing.  He and his father denounced the racial strife that surfaced at the Charlottesville riots early in Thing #45's presidency.  Also, he and the other former presidents previously worked together to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma.  

Okay, so he came off as some sort of naïve fellow from the backwoods, but damn it all, he has shown he truly cares for humanity, regardless of party affiliation.

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

I became a fan of Barack Obama when he spoke at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia very early in his 2008 campaign.  In that speech, he admitted that he could see why some people would see the Affirmative Action law as discriminatory.  I was impressed that he could see both sides of an argument at once and, in my logic, this would enable Obama to work with both sides for solutions in the middle.  He accomplished a lot in eight years and would have accomplished more if it weren’t for the McConnell Obstructionists in the Senate and old-fashioned Yankee racism.

THING #45

I realize that the current members of the Former Presidents of the United States Club will continue to act with class and dignity towards #45, but that’s all part of the graciousness that makes up their nature.  They may allow him in, smile and wave, and be civil to him.  I hope they would close the clubhouse door on this schoolyard bully.   And whatever they do, they should not tell him the password.  God only knows to whom he would give that information...

So, here’s the PSA.

(Thank you for reading.  For those playing along at home, the password is “swordfish”.)