It is hard to look at the issues facing the United States today and not wish someone better was at the helm.
Is it that presidents these days aren't what they used to be, or are the problems of today much more difficult to solve? To put it another way, would we be better off in Iraq if George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Franklin D. Roosevelt were in the White House?
It is important to note that our perceptions of the presidency have been radically altered by the explosion of mass media. Presidents nowadays not only have to deal with the pressures of the job, but they have to look good on television.
They are perpetually under a media microscope in which the smallest thing, no matter how insignificant or unrelated to the job, could turn into a major news story. Lincoln could have delivered the Gettysburg Address only to have the news media focus on his high-pitched Kentucky drawl and somewhat homely features.
On the other hand, mass media lend a welcome degree of transparency to government. If it had been around in the past, the public would have been outraged over Washington's ruthless crushing of the Whiskey Rebellion, Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War, and FDR's attempt to pack the Supreme Court with political yes-men.
Though the media has created a deep, if often justified, cynicism about the presidency, this does not mean great presidents didn't earn their greatness. Washington set a historical precedent by voluntarily leaving office after two terms, even though he had the political support to become an emperor.
Lincoln's generous terms of southern Reconstruction, the spirit of ""malice toward none, charity for all,"" helped to convince the South to surrender and not to fight on with guerrilla tactics and terrorism. Unlike George W. Bush, Lincoln had planned not only for the war but also for the subsequent peace.
FDR's programs during the Great Depression transformed a government which had previously been, in his words, ""frozen in the ice of its own indifference."" He also learned from the mistakes made after World War I and managed to win both the war and peace in World War II.
But could even these great leaders solve contemporary problems like Iraq?
The war now going on in Iraq is unlike any war ever faced in U.S. history. There is no confrontation of armies on a battlefield. Rather, the armies are ordinary people, and the battlefield is anywhere and everywhere.
Moreover, the dichotomy we have known throughout 230 years of history—Rebels vs. Redcoats, North vs. South, Allies vs. Axis, communist vs. capitalist—is absent. Instead, there are multiple sides with varying agendas who appear uninterested in maintaining a common state and who are united only in their hostility toward America.
A ""good"" way out of the quagmire may not exist, and the next president will have to make a brutal decision about whether to pull out the troops and risk anarchy or leave the troops in and risk their lives for a pipe dream.
Either way, certain things at least need to be attempted. Any absolution in Iraq will not come through dogged military force but through a politically negotiated arrangement, something that will require a leader with the diplomatic savvy of a Roosevelt.
Repairing the United States' shattered prestige in the region and turning back a potential clash of civilizations will require a president with the conciliatory spirit of a Lincoln.
And establishing democracy will require a patriot with the democratic instincts of a Washington, someone who values the long-term goal of a democratic state over short-term goals like cheap oil.
Presidents don't have to be gods to be great. What they need is the wisdom to analyze situations, listen to advice, foresee possible outcomes and ultimately make good decisions on policy.
If history has obscured us from seeing the flaws of historical politicians, mass media has perhaps made us too aware of the flaws of contemporary ones. Legends like Washington and Lincoln were, in fact, mere mortals, and there's no reason why mere mortals today cannot also accomplish great things. We have only to elect them.
