Age has a way of mellowing people in the political world. After a long career in the sewers of partisan politics, most well-known figures are happy to transition into an elder statesman role. They devote themselves to non-partisan issues and bury the old hatchets in order to end their careers in public service on a positive note.
The recent history of retired presidents shows how far a graceful retirement can go toward rehabilitating a bad career. Jimmy Carter, widely considered to be an atrocious President, has made himself into an American Mother Theresa analogue. His face and name are synonymous with Habitat for Humanity and international monitoring of elections through the Carter Center. Gerald Ford, another human punchline of a President, devoted himself to the Ford school of international affairs at the University of Michigan as well as the Betty Ford Clinic. Even Nixon salvaged some measure of respect by focusing on his expertise in foreign policy, being called upon for advice and diplomatic missions by every president who followed him. Harry Truman became excellent friends with Herbert Hoover and championed legislation to establish presidential libraries. Hoover, for that matter, was appointed to oversee the distribution of food to the needy in post-WWII Europe and headed the appropriately-titled Hoover Commission on reducing bureaucratic waste. The Hoover Institute at Stanford University is also the single most well-respected source of public policy from the right.
Even losers find ways to endear themselves to the public. Former Senate enemies and epic presidential failures George McGovern and Bob Dole were jointly awarded the prestigious World Food Prize for their organization dedicated to establishing school lunch programs in poor countries. Walter Mondale became an Ambassador. Michael Dukakis teaches political science at Northeastern University in his home state. Barry Goldwater and John Kerry returned to the Senate as quieter, gentler people. Adlai Stevenson became the US Ambassador to the United Nations, a post he held during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thomas Dewey was offered a Supreme Court seat by Lyndon Johnson but turned it down. Wendell Willkie became one of FDR's most important political allies during WWII. Al Gore's post-government career has been controversial only because James Inhofe insists that the environment is a partisan battleground.
A couple of presidents are conspicuously absent from this list. Bill Clinton has had a hard time leaving the spotlight for numerous reasons. The Democratic Party was adrift from 2000-2004 and he remained its leader by default. His wife's political career has also kept him in the game. Ronald Reagan physically fell apart upon retirement, but even in becoming a recluse he managed to advance awareness of Alzheimer's research. So those two get passes. The name most conspicuous in its absence is the elder Bush.
After 1992 George Bush essentially fell off the face of the Earth. He briefly surfaced to raise money for Katrina victims (at Clinton's request) in 2005. His other major accomplishment has been to organize a yearly fishing tournament in the Florida Keys. Now, I understand that Pappy needed to lay a bit low for the past eight years lest his unpopularity affect his sons' political aspirations. That fails to explain the void between 1992-2000. He has essentially spent sixteen years lounging around at his family's dozen homes around the country. No dedication to lovable non-partisan causes (hunger, literacy, digging up landmines, saving tiny puppies, oranges for adorable babies with scurvy, etc). No statesmanship or half-assed efforts at diplomacy. He isn't even involved with the public policy school at Texas A&M which bears his name.
Pappy's example makes it even more difficult for me to picture George W. Bush having a remotely dignified ex-presidency. Can anyone honestly picture this guy devoting himself to charity? Being sent overseas to further diplomacy? Promoting peace? Monitoring a foreign election? Engaging in the academic side of public policy? I mean, this guy wasn't even interested in public policy (or governing, or diplomacy, or anything) during his presidency. It's hard to picture him developing such interests in retirement.
My best guess is that, like the overgrown fratboy he has always been, he's going to cash in on his title in the most crass and embarassing ways we can imagine. He'll be like one of those doctors who wins the Nobel Prize in Medicine and then uses it to hawk diet supplements on infomercials. He'll load up on honorary/no-show appointments to corporate boards of directors (Gerald Ford had a few of these). He'll lobby the Pentagon for defense contractors. He'll lend his name to the kind of partisan hackery that masquerades as a "cause" on the right (preventing voter fraud, achieving energy independence through oil drilling, abstinence-only education, etc). But these are only things that are conceivable at the moment; I fully expect W to take it places we never imagined possible. He will amaze us with how crass, how tacky, and how thoroughly disinterested in public service he is. It will not surprise me one bit to turn on my TV some day and see this fucker selling me a limited edition presidential Sham-Wow.
Perhaps I'm underestimating the man. If he's anything like his dad, though, anything listed in the previous paragraph would qualify as almost impossibly ambitious. He is likely to spend his retirement the same way he spent 50% of his presidency – sitting on his ass in Crawford, the public thankful for every moment it doesn't have to look at him.
j says:
I have a feeling the post-presidency will look a lot like that which was portrayed in Harold and Kumar 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-TizTnr3X8 . Watch it and smile!
Oh yeah, the Hoover Institute WAS well-respected until they appointed Rumsfeld to the board of directors, and spent the next 6 months apologizing to and ingratiating themselves with the faculty here. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/november14/raisian-111407.html
Vinny says:
I don't know about any other president's physical condition, but Bush Sr. and his wife had Graves disease. From the Mayo Clinic site, the symptoms are:
* Anxiety
* Irritability
* Difficulty sleeping
* Fatigue
* A rapid or irregular heartbeat
* A fine tremor of your hands or fingers
* An increase in perspiration
* Sensitivity to heat
* Weight loss, despite normal food intake
* Brittle hair
* Enlargement of your thyroid gland (goiter)
* Light menstrual periods
* Frequent bowel movements
Now, I can't say I'm a fan of any Bush to hold office, I'm just saying maybe this disease seriously curtailed his activities. I mean, c'mon, Brittle hair! That sucks.
Rob says:
"elect who you want while we're falling apart, but he'll open a can of worms!"
Kulkuri says:
I wouldn't be at all surprised if aWol retreated to Paraguay and just let others use his name (like the Texas Rangers deal) as long as they paid good. He doesn't have the ambition to actually do anything, but he has used his name and family connections his whole life. I have seen rumors that the Bush Family bought a huge ranch in Paraguay and they don't have an extradition treaty.
J. Dryden says:
Patterns are hard to detect with such a narrow sampling–Bush leaves office under a vicious cloud of public loathing, and as a springboard to post-Presidential life, only Truman and Nixon share that burden. (Carter wasn't terribly popular, but he wasn't 'cross-the-street-to-spit-on-him' hated.) Character therefore counts–Truman was devoted to his wife, who'd essentially made the bargain that after he left office they could get back to living like 'normal people'–she hated the spotlight–so, a man of his word, his post-election life was relatively low-key. He and Nixon (both self-made men coming from 'modest' means) had always been go-getters, so it's not suprising that when the time came for them to step down, they continued to put their shoulder to the wheel to whatever extent they could. And oddly enough, I think Bush will, too.
Bush is a curious case; he's obviously not averse to work, so long as it's physical in nature–he really would have been ideal as a roustabout on an oil rig, and probably both competent and likable to boot–the man was born to be blue-collar–but the demands of intellectual labor don't interest him. I can't imagine that he'll write memoirs (oh, someone will ghost-write them, to be sure), but he might do some ambassadorial work in those oil-rich countries where the ruling powers know and like him. I can see that. But I don't actually see him *literally* sitting on his ass doing nothing–he's an active man, in body though not in mind. He'll clear brush–metaphorically as well as literally.
BK says:
My question is this – if you were charged with public or government relations on behalf of a cause/orgnaization/company is there any way in hell you'd choose to be associated with W? I know ex-presidents hold a mystique and have a ton of doors for this sort of thing open for them, but c'mon… no way you'd pick him. Even most the GOPers hate him now.
In today's overly sensationalistic and PR concious world, no one with half a brain would pick W to be associated with them in any way, shape or form becuase he is simply too toxic.
Ed says:
I think in the neocon world he is still a god. Someone looking for Iraq contracts could do worse looking for someone to give them an upper hand.
Vinny, Reagan managed to do more with Alzheimer's (and Clinton after a major heart attack) than Pappy has done with Graves, which looks unpleasant but not particularly overwhelming.
Shane says:
Let's not forget the memorable work he did on the Simpsons.
pmayo says:
I think Dubya wants the baseball commish spot. If he does anything after he's done, that'll be it.
Warmbowski says:
OMG, he'd be the perfect successor to Bud 'I gotta used car for ya' Selig that can carry on all those wonderful MLB disfunctions.
Kulkuri says:
Everything about the goat farm in Crawford, TX is phony. aWol only bought it when he decided to run for Pres so he could have a place to go cut brush like his ultimate hero St. Ronnie. MSM kept up the facade by doing their standups behind the high school with the farm props (big hay bales, farm equipment, etc.) in the background. Everything about aWol is as phony as a three dollar bill!!