We Need To Look For Less From Our Presidents

In the spring of 1789 the United States had just ratified the Constitution and elected its first president, George Washington. When both houses of Congress sat down to discuss the presidency they immediately found themselves confounded as to what the president’s title should be. The House of Representatives — the house closest to the people — felt that it should be humble and republican, as befitting a country that had just won its independence from an overbearing king. Their proposal would accordingly be austere, simple, non-prepossessing: “Mr. President.”

Yet even John Adams, convinced as he was that low-key monarchy was inevitable were the United States to survive, would likely blush were he to behold the presidency in its modern incarnation.

We still refer to our chief executives as “Mr. President,” but we do so as we watch them fly from destination to destination in their very own Boeing 747, accompanied by other Boeing 747s and an Air Force escort — then continue to watch as they shut down entire cities to accommodate motorcades that stretch for blocks wherever they land. From behind an iron fence — and a strict secret service perimeter — we gaze upon their mansion and, at least once a year, from behind a television screen dutifully watch them enter, address, and then exit a joint-session of Congress in all pomp and regal splendor.

In more modern terms, instead of looking for Ronald Reagans who can realign American politics for a decade or two, we could look for George H.W. Bushes who take responsibility for big problems with modesty and competence.

We as American voters need to understand this. We need to expect our presidents to behave and act as if they are nothing more than executive officers in a constitutional order, one that gives precedence to the legislative branch; and not expect them, in Rauch’s words, “to say and do great and mighty things.”

When it comes to the presidency, less is more. Expect less, and we’ll get more.

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