The Obama Birthday Bash and the Modern Post-Presidency

In this summer of extreme weather, the Delta surge, and the chaos in Afghanistan, Barack Obama’s sixtieth birthday party got major media play, much of it critical because of its scale amid so many national crises. On the other hand, the Obamas were celebrating a major life milestone at their Martha’s Vineyard estate bought with earnings from their enormous book royalties and other post-presidential paydays. So why not?

I was fascinated by the party for several reasons. The original guest list was cut back but still apparently was more than two hundred people. Black superstars were very much on hand. White Hollywood celebrities included Tom Hanks and George Clooney. Not present, I was told, were many (if not most) of the people who served Obama in his political rise and presidency.

All in all, the event displayed the Obamas’ decision to enjoy their lives to the fullest, spending money (a mansion in Hawaii is said to be planned), hobnobbing with the greats and developing the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, which will be the place to pursue assistance to the community, especially among younger African-Americans. The official presidential library itself will be in the northern suburbs of the city, according to news reports intended to emphasize its distance from the city’s urban core.

The flap over the party led me to consider other modern post-presidencies. Given our lengthened life spans, this can be an extended period. When Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980 he was fifty-six years old. He will soon be ninety-seven. Carter is considered the ne plus ultra of a former president. Accolades abound. All deserved. And he still lives in the same home in Plains where only the small Secret Service hut at the gate marks it as unusual.

For the moment, Obama’s presidency is in something of a shadow. Mistakes — in retrospect — in the management of wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan and a debacle in Libya are now clear. While the historic nature of his election is acknowledged and the accomplishments of Obamacare recognized, Obama’s inability to defy and outsmart Republican resistance is a source of disappointment even to his admirers, of which I am and will always be one.

And it is beyond dispute that the American agenda is so vast and complicated that the possibility of not getting things wrong is inconceivable.

The era of modern presidencies begins with John F. Kennedy, the first chief executive to be born in the twentieth century. FDR died in office. Harry Truman chose not to run and went home to Independence. Dwight Eisenhower, war hero and the only postwar president to serve two full terms until Ronald Reagan, spent retirement in Gettysburg. Here are capsules of the post-presidencies from 35 to 45.

JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963, was the start of a posthumous post-presidency, as the memory of his charisma and youthful energy was inexorably overtaken by Kennedy family tragedies and a growing awareness of just how flagrant his lascivious behavior was even in the White House. Kennedy could never be elected today.

Lyndon Johnson could have been a great president. His domestic ambitions and political instincts were formidable. But he was undone by the Vietnam war, which was destined for failure, and he privately understood that it was. Listening to the hours of the Johnson tapes, an awesome insight to the man, his anguish is palpable. In her diaries, Lady Bird Johnson confided that he believed that he was “unqualified” to be commander-in-chief but was trapped. When he went home to Texas, he was a broken man. He died four years later at age sixty-four.

Richard Nixon was another president who might have succeeded in policy terms. His defining flaw was character. The Nixon tapes, another extraordinary asset to history, show the full extent of his paranoia and bigotry. Hearing Kenry Kissinger tolerate his anti-Semitism is pathetic. In the twenty years after he resigned he managed to regain a measure of “wise man” respect for his savvy in foreign affairs. But for all time, he was disgraced.

Gerald Ford was never elected president. When he ran for a term in his own right in 1976, he lost. His presidency was a parenthesis in history whose achievement was providing the transition from the era of Vietnam, Watergate and civil strife to a less fraught period that the country badly needed. He had an appropriately muted post-presidency in which he was aligned with Jimmy Carter in many public appearances.

And then came Carter. I worked with him and Rosalynn on many books. He deserves the reappraisal that he is getting in biographies by Kai Bird and Jonathan Alter. As a couple celebrating their seventy-fifth anniversary, theirs must be considered a life very well lived.

Ronald Reagan was in political terms a winner. He decisively reframed the American national landscape. We’ll never know for sure, but in his second term he may well have encountered the early stages of dementia, which eventually overwhelmed him. The Iran-contra scandal was less about corruption in the Nixonian sense or a policy failure that destroyed LBJ. What it did show was the cost of Reagan’s disregard for detail when surrounded by aides with nefarious objectives. His final letter in 1994 revealing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis was an elegant self-eulogy, after which he disappeared. He died a decade later. If there are any photographs of him in the later stages of his illness, I never saw one.

George Herbert Walker “Poppy” Bush came from the tradition known as the WASP ascendency. His family came from old-style New England prosperity and politics. They were not flamboyant. I once encountered his brother Prescott in a YMCA in downtown Greenwich, Connecticut. This was definitely not a country club. Bush had a distinguished career marred by identifying in campaigns with lesser elements of his party. He was not re-elected. In his post-presidency, much of which was spent in a home in Maine, he never cashed out with a multi-million-dollar memoir or any other lucrative reward.

Bill Clinton was another two-term president who left office with more than respectable popularity ratings and political success. He and Hillary made a fortune on books, speeches, and other benefits of fame. They established a foundation that was admirable until it became tangled in political controversies. History will doubtless focus on impeachment, scandal, and the frustrations of Hillary’s own complex trajectory. The ten-part miniseries on the Lewinsky affair currently airing will not improve matters. Alas, Clinton’s health problems have diminished his greatest assets, his immense vitality and charm, according to recent visitors.

George W. Bush had his family’s pedigree but adopted the persona of a “good ol’ boy,” which worked in his public life. His presidency was indelibly marked by 9/11 and the wars that followed, with a growing belief that Bush succumbed to the strong wills of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, resulting in disastrous conflicts and the continued rightward shift of the Republicans. In retirement, Bush paints and people who see him remark how likeable he is. All in all, it’s been a placid period without much to say about it.

And then there is Obama. His ultimate legacy is very much undetermined. That is what makes the birthday bash worth mentioning again. It is likely that what appears to be unresolved biases among some Americans to the Obamas’ race is one factor. A three-part HBO documentary this summer effectively made that point. And ironically, the Obamas’ identification with national elites probably had a role in the inexorable, devastating presidential tenure of Donald J. Trump. On the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, Trump and his son were doing color commentary at a pay-per-view bout of old “prize fighters,” as they used to be called. Trump’s early post-presidency is a travesty of the expected dignity of life after public service.

So here we are with Joe Biden as president. His domestic ambitions rival FDR’s and LBJ’s. But every tic and stumble are now subject to examination and vilification from the right, and too often from the left — and, of course, the media. Will Biden be able to overcome what seems like a pattern of presidential ignominy? Let’s hope so. The country needs it, badly.

In this summer of extreme weather, the Delta surge, and the chaos in Afghanistan, Barack Obama’s sixtieth birthday party got major media play, much of it critical because of its scale amid so many national crises. On the other hand, the Obamas were celebrating a major life milestone at their Martha’s Vineyard estate bought with earnings from their enormous book royalties and other post-presidential paydays. So why not?

I was fascinated by the party for several reasons. The original guest list was cut back but still apparently was more than two hundred people. Black superstars were very much on hand. White Hollywood celebrities included Tom Hanks and George Clooney. Not present, I was told, were many (if not most) of the people who served Obama in his political rise and presidency.

All in all, the event displayed the Obamas’ decision to enjoy their lives to the fullest, spending money (a mansion in Hawaii is said to be planned), hobnobbing with the greats and developing the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago, which will be the place to pursue assistance to the community, especially among younger African-Americans. The official presidential library itself will be in the northern suburbs of the city, according to news reports intended to emphasize its distance from the city’s urban core.

The flap over the party led me to consider other modern post-presidencies. Given our lengthened life spans, this can be an extended period. When Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980 he was fifty-six years old. He will soon be ninety-seven. Carter is considered the ne plus ultra of a former president. Accolades abound. All deserved. And he still lives in the same home in Plains where only the small Secret Service hut at the gate marks it as unusual.

For the moment, Obama’s presidency is in something of a shadow. Mistakes — in retrospect — in the management of wars in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan and a debacle in Libya are now clear. While the historic nature of his election is acknowledged and the accomplishments of Obamacare recognized, Obama’s inability to defy and outsmart Republican resistance is a source of disappointment even to his admirers, of which I am and will always be one.

And it is beyond dispute that the American agenda is so vast and complicated that the possibility of not getting things wrong is inconceivable.

The era of modern presidencies begins with John F. Kennedy, the first chief executive to be born in the twentieth century. FDR died in office. Harry Truman chose not to run and went home to Independence. Dwight Eisenhower, war hero and the only postwar president to serve two full terms until Ronald Reagan, spent retirement in Gettysburg. Here are capsules of the post-presidencies from 35 to 45.

JFK’s assassination on November 22, 1963, was the start of a posthumous post-presidency, as the memory of his charisma and youthful energy was inexorably overtaken by Kennedy family tragedies and a growing awareness of just how flagrant his lascivious behavior was even in the White House. Kennedy could never be elected today.

Lyndon Johnson could have been a great president. His domestic ambitions and political instincts were formidable. But he was undone by the Vietnam war, which was destined for failure, and he privately understood that it was. Listening to the hours of the Johnson tapes, an awesome insight to the man, his anguish is palpable. In her diaries, Lady Bird Johnson confided that he believed that he was “unqualified” to be commander-in-chief but was trapped. When he went home to Texas, he was a broken man. He died four years later at age sixty-four.

Richard Nixon was another president who might have succeeded in policy terms. His defining flaw was character. The Nixon tapes, another extraordinary asset to history, show the full extent of his paranoia and bigotry. Hearing Kenry Kissinger tolerate his anti-Semitism is pathetic. In the twenty years after he resigned he managed to regain a measure of “wise man” respect for his savvy in foreign affairs. But for all time, he was disgraced.

Gerald Ford was never elected president. When he ran for a term in his own right in 1976, he lost. His presidency was a parenthesis in history whose achievement was providing the transition from the era of Vietnam, Watergate and civil strife to a less fraught period that the country badly needed. He had an appropriately muted post-presidency in which he was aligned with Jimmy Carter in many public appearances.

And then came Carter. I worked with him and Rosalynn on many books. He deserves the reappraisal that he is getting in biographies by Kai Bird and Jonathan Alter. As a couple celebrating their seventy-fifth anniversary, theirs must be considered a life very well lived.

Ronald Reagan was in political terms a winner. He decisively reframed the American national landscape. We’ll never know for sure, but in his second term he may well have encountered the early stages of dementia, which eventually overwhelmed him. The Iran-contra scandal was less about corruption in the Nixonian sense or a policy failure that destroyed LBJ. What it did show was the cost of Reagan’s disregard for detail when surrounded by aides with nefarious objectives. His final letter in 1994 revealing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis was an elegant self-eulogy, after which he disappeared. He died a decade later. If there are any photographs of him in the later stages of his illness, I never saw one.

George Herbert Walker “Poppy” Bush came from the tradition known as the WASP ascendency. His family came from old-style New England prosperity and politics. They were not flamboyant. I once encountered his brother Prescott in a YMCA in downtown Greenwich, Connecticut. This was definitely not a country club. Bush had a distinguished career marred by identifying in campaigns with lesser elements of his party. He was not re-elected. In his post-presidency, much of which was spent in a home in Maine, he never cashed out with a multi-million-dollar memoir or any other lucrative reward.

Bill Clinton was another two-term president who left office with more than respectable popularity ratings and political success. He and Hillary made a fortune on books, speeches, and other benefits of fame. They established a foundation that was admirable until it became tangled in political controversies. History will doubtless focus on impeachment, scandal, and the frustrations of Hillary’s own complex trajectory. The ten-part miniseries on the Lewinsky affair currently airing will not improve matters. Alas, Clinton’s health problems have diminished his greatest assets, his immense vitality and charm, according to recent visitors.

George W. Bush had his family’s pedigree but adopted the persona of a “good ol’ boy,” which worked in his public life. His presidency was indelibly marked by 9/11 and the wars that followed, with a growing belief that Bush succumbed to the strong wills of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, resulting in disastrous conflicts and the continued rightward shift of the Republicans. In retirement, Bush paints and people who see him remark how likeable he is. All in all, it’s been a placid period without much to say about it.

And then there is Obama. His ultimate legacy is very much undetermined. That is what makes the birthday bash worth mentioning again. It is likely that what appears to be unresolved biases among some Americans to the Obamas’ race is one factor. A three-part HBO documentary this summer effectively made that point. And ironically, the Obamas’ identification with national elites probably had a role in the inexorable, devastating presidential tenure of Donald J. Trump. On the twentieth anniversary of 9/11, Trump and his son were doing color commentary at a pay-per-view bout of old “prize fighters,” as they used to be called. Trump’s early post-presidency is a travesty of the expected dignity of life after public service.

So here we are with Joe Biden as president. His domestic ambitions rival FDR’s and LBJ’s. But every tic and stumble are now subject to examination and vilification from the right, and too often from the left — and, of course, the media. Will Biden be able to overcome what seems like a pattern of presidential ignominy? Let’s hope so. The country needs it, badly.