Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Reflection: President’s Day 2008

Dave Weber
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Palo Alto, CA

This week, Abe Lincoln would have celebrated his 199^th birthday, and George Washington would have been 276. That makes me feel young. On this President’s Day weekend, I thought I’d talk today about the Presidents I’ve known. The first election I really remember was Kennedy versus Nixon, and I had no strong emotions either way. I really liked Kennedy’s positive energy and intelligence, but this was 1960 and Nixon didn’t yet seem so bad. By the time I was old enough to vote eight years later, Vietnam had changed the landscape. Power politics and economics had trumped ethics, and several presidents shared the guilt: Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. As a youth, I thought we fought for truth, justice, and the American way, like Superman, so this was shocking to me, but I have sadly learned over the years that our leaders rarely resemble superheroes. In 1968, a second Kennedy was murdered, the Democrats were a party divided by the war, and by now we knew something about Richard Nixon. Neither presidential aspirant was going to end the war, so I opted out and didn’t vote. I have cast a ballot in every presidential election since, nine of them, but I’ve only picked three winners, a percentage that won’t get me into the super bowl of politics, and much of the time, even in victory, I found myself voting for the lesser of evils.

In 1972, I deeply admired George McGovern who I saw as a courageous anti-war candidate, a man not motivated by ego or power. I worked hard on his campaign that year and although a poor student, sent him money. That was the first time I discovered that conviction, honesty, and courage are not the skills needed to win an election. On the campaign trail that year, I got within a hundred feet of McGovern, and within about fifty feet of ex-Vice President, and also unsuccessful presidential candidate, Hubert Humphrey. I got to meet and strategize one-on-one for five minutes with Senator Walter Mondale, a charismatic and handsome man, who would serve as Jimmy Carter’s Vice President, and later become still another unsuccessful Presidential candidate. In one summer I had spoken with, or witnessed up close, three losing presidential candidates. That’s as close as I’ve ever gotten to actually knowing someone who was or ever would become president. My nephew served as a White House Intern in the 90’s, and on occasion met with Bill Clinton. He once introduced my sister and brother-in-law to the man. They talked about … football. But I wasn’t there. So I guess I’ll have to rename my reflection “the Presidents I’ve known … of.” I am separated by only three handshakes from Lincoln, but that doesn’t really count. In 1976, I got involved again, serving as a Democratic delegate to a district convention, but my candidate didn’t win, so I lost interest. Since then, I have on occasion joined the effort to get out the vote, and last year I helped staff the phone banks at Move-On as I may once again this fall, but I’ve become jaded, so no more party politics for me.

Not many of our presidents have been great leaders, creators of major new social movements to advance the cause of humanity. Most just got out of the way and let the waves of change roll by, while some have stood in the way and tried to turn back the tides of change (I won’t mention any names). Some have invoked deep love and hatred while others just invoked yawns. Presidents are only human and perhaps we ask too much of them. Many people almost worship the presidency. For them, image is more important than substance, and an attack on the policies of the White House is an act of treason against America. We seem therefore to elect the overly self-confident and arrogant and the charismatic; those who fit the “role” of leader. Those with the best plan to serve America usually fall by the wayside. In my opinion we’d be better off with a constitutional monarchy like the British have. They bestow all their worship on their royalty, leaving the prime minister as just another politician whose policies are what matters, and if the prime minister drifts too far from the will of the people, out she or he goes. Yes, we need some figureheads, royal fluff on which to bestow our worship. Hmm let’s see, … how about making Bill Gates king, or maybe Madonna queen?

Whoever is elected in November, some will be pleased and many disappointed, and it’s a fair guess that nobody will be truly happy four years from now. But we’ll all survive. We always have and always will.

 

Sermon: Dear Mr./Madam President by Rev. Kurt Kuhwald