Monday, February 18, 2008

Presidents' Day? Yuck

The Monk hates the notion of Presidents' Day. There have been 42 Presidents of the United States (remember, Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President) and only about 5-6 are truly worth honoring: Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, Truman, Jefferson. Many of the rest have been good leaders, notable men or great statesmen but many of the most venerated are noted more for the force of their personality or the events surrounding them than the worth of their actual accomplishments (Jackson, FDR, TR, JFK). Others were simply mediocrities (everyone between Polk and Lincoln and from 1868-1901; Harding; Ike). Worse yet, there are entirely too many who have disgraced themselves, the country or the office (Nixon, Carter, Clinton).

So Presidents' Day is a worthless catchall holiday. It used to be Lincoln and Washington's Birthday -- a combination day off instead of two holidays celebrating the anniversaries of the births of our two best presidents on February 12 (Lincoln) and February 22 (Washington). When I was a boy, we had both days off and rightly so -- the greatest nation in the world should honor the two men most responsible for its survival. Therefore, I have no use for Presidents' Day. Honor those who deserve it and don't let the useless, worthless and heinous reap the rewards that they played no part in sowing.

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