Loran Smith: Asking politicians to admit mistakes and govern with integrity might be too much
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While I am not a historian and certainly not a political historiographer, I have a curious interest in presidential history and have visited all but three of the Presidential libraries or home sites, except for the last four.
Included in my travels, I have read historical documents and biographies of all presidents except for Obama, Trump and Biden and have several opinions about many of the men who have occupied the Oval Office. There is time yet to get to the libraries of the above-named presidents. One, I may choose to boycott, the greatest narcissist ever to fly Air Force One.
We have had many losers to reside in the White House, and several who would not get high marks when it comes to morality, which means that they are not exclusive by any means. Fortunately, with a free press, they were thoroughly investigated and castigated.
That has been the way of the world, however. Those of the Christian
faith are well aware that the Master was held in such contempt by his critics that they were successful in having him crucified.
Then there is the parable about having a woman stoned because of adultery. He said words to the effect, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
How do we apply this logic with modern day politicians? If you have skeletons in your closet, don’t run for office, which is one of the reasons why so many people shy away from politics. That can be unfortunate for our society, however.
Mark Twin famously said, “Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you.”
When Vince Dooley made his initial foray into politics, considering a run for the U.S. Senate in 1986, he met with Georgia alumnus Earl Leonard who had insider connections in Washington.
When Earl asked him if he was prepared for the personal attacks that would be made on him and his family, Vince told him that football recruiting was about as nasty of an exercise as there was.
“Politics are worse,” Earl said. “Your opponent will get up on the stand and tell a bold face lie about you. You know it is a lie and he knows it is a lie.
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“Afterwards, he will slap you on the back and say, ‘No hard feelings. Let’s go have a drink.’ That is how underhanded politics are.”
In this election year, Donald Trump, never the shrinking violet, is trying to achieve what Grover Cleveland pulled off back in the late 1800s. Cleveland was a two-term president, but not consecutively. He served as the 22nd and 24th President with Benjamin Harrison occupying the White House in between as the 23rd President.
Historians have been kind to Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, who upon taking office in his first term, addressed the spoils system that had been in effect historically. He said without hesitation that he would not fire any Republican who was doing his job well and would not appoint anyone solely on the basis of party service.
Further, he invoked his appointment powers to reduce the number of federal employees.
Cleveland was never timid when he disapproved of legislation approved by Congress. He was a prolific practitioner of the veto. In his first term alone, he used the veto option 414 times. That was four times more than any of his predecessors.
On his death bed, Cleveland, who lived to be 71, said, “I have tried so hard to do right.”
Biographer Allan Nevins wrote about him, “In Grover Cleveland, the greatness lies in typical rather than unusual qualities. He had no endowments that thousands of men do not have. He possessed honesty, courage, firmness, independence, and common sense. But he possessed them to a degree other men do not.”
`But Cleveland was not free from accusations of impropriety. A young woman accused him of raping her and claimed he was the father of her 9-year-old daughter. This was when he was a gubernatorial candidate for the state of New York. Later on, Republicans seized on this rumor, using this ditty to discredit Cleveland.
“Ma, Ma, where’s my pa,
“Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha.”
Cleveland’s opponent was James G. Blaine, one-time speaker of the House of Representatives and later a U.S. senator. Republicans countered the Democratic slur of Cleveland with, “Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, continental liar from the state of Maine.”
Some things never change, but it would be nice if presidential candidates asked for forgiveness of their past faux pas and underscored integrity. Unfortunately, that would be asking too much of them.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Loran Smith: Asking for some integrity from politicians might be too much
