Tweet
It's not that I mind having a holiday in bleakest February. But when I was a kid, we had two February holidays: Washington's Birthday and Lincoln's Birthday. This was lovely, as it gave us the chance to contemplate the lives and achievements of two great Americans. Then, apparently, insane-work-ethic types couldn't stomach the loss of two whole days of productivity in one month, and so they got combined into Washington-Lincoln Day, which was stingy but still allowed us to pay appropriate homage to great men. Then, sometime later -- for reasons that remain unclear to me -- it became Presidents Day.
Let's be clear: the very concept of Presidents Day smacks of fascism. It's no longer a day to honor the achievements of one or two great men, but instead a day in honor of Our Leader, period. Presidents Day lumps Washington and Lincoln in together with Nixon and Harding and says, "let's just honor them all." By why the hell should we? Washington-Lincoln Day set the bar high; Presidents Day lowers it to a level that's probably appropriate for a nation that thinks Coors is beer and American Idol is entertainment.
And why does this matter? Well, for example, there are the results of two new polls, one by Washington College and the other by CNN-USA Today.
Bush ahead of Washington. Clinton tied with Lincoln. JFK in both top-fives. 
Of course Americans are congenital idiots with the historical memory of mayflies, but still. So I hate "Presidents Day."
There; I feel better now.
Let's be clear: the very concept of Presidents Day smacks of fascism. It's no longer a day to honor the achievements of one or two great men, but instead a day in honor of Our Leader, period. Presidents Day lumps Washington and Lincoln in together with Nixon and Harding and says, "let's just honor them all." By why the hell should we? Washington-Lincoln Day set the bar high; Presidents Day lowers it to a level that's probably appropriate for a nation that thinks Coors is beer and American Idol is entertainment.
And why does this matter? Well, for example, there are the results of two new polls, one by Washington College and the other by CNN-USA Today.
Asked who was the greatest president, 20 percent of those polled [by Wash. College] chose Lincoln. Reagan was picked by 15 percent, Franklin D. Roosevelt by 12 percent, John F. Kennedy by 11 percent, Bill Clinton (news - web sites) by 10 percent and George W. Bush by 8 percent. Washington was picked by 6 percent.
In the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, Reagan had 20 percent, followed by Clinton and Lincoln in the mid-teens and then Roosevelt and Kennedy at 12 percent.
In the CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, Reagan had 20 percent, followed by Clinton and Lincoln in the mid-teens and then Roosevelt and Kennedy at 12 percent.
Of course Americans are congenital idiots with the historical memory of mayflies, but still. So I hate "Presidents Day."
There; I feel better now.
Comment