From the moment you were able to chase your adolescent sweetheart – court the true love of your life – you have devoted everything to her. Then cruelly, just when you thought it was forever, the navy blue rug with the embroidered presidential seal is pulled from under your feet. Now she is gone. You are an ex-president.
In a strange sort of way, older is better when it comes to ex-presidents. At least then you can simply dust yourself down, lick your wounds, raise money for the presidential library, charge extortionate rates for after-dinner speeches, write your memoirs and let the next president mess it up and smile wryly to yourself.
Such a wry smile may be difficult if it’s your son in office. George H W Bush – a model, non-controversial ex – and his son George W have taken to public utterances of affection in recent times. ‘Aitch’ must have felt the urge for an ‘I told you so’ moment as the US found itself deeper and deeper in an Iraq quagmire. With ‘Dubya’ in the White House that just would not have felt right.
As George W heads back to a $2m pad in Dallas and his Crawford ranch, who can tell what his plans are? While older than President Johnson when he left the White House, it is difficult to imagine Bush stewing in Texas, brokenhearted until his death like that 1960s titan.
With George W’s self-defined type A personality, that is not really in the offing. In the world of ex-presidents, unlike marriage, the younger you are, the more difficult it can be. There is a legacy to secure and some charitable works, maybe in Africa, may be the ticket for the just retired president.
George W could look to Jimmy Carter, another former southern governor. He has found plenty to do since he left office in 1980 at the ripe age of 66. Maybe it’s all those peanuts in Georgia, but there is something remarkably indefatigable about him. If he’s not ridding the world of Guinea Worm, he’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He could be advancing the cause of human rights one day, and then creating a political storm in the Middle East the next. Most historians would view his presidency as mediocre. Whatever the controversies, they would view his post-presidential period as anything but.
There must have been something in the 1970s Potomac water. Richard M Nixon (boo, hiss pantomime time) was also energetic in world affairs. However, the shadow of Watergate was just as dark as the stubble on his chin. Whatever David Frost got out of his interview with Nixon, it wasn’t quite an apology and nor was it a confession.
Bill Clinton shrugged off his misdemeanours with aplomb and insouciance. Clinton has been just as energetic as Carter, though he has reserved his political controversy for the domestic scene in his comments about the chances of an African-American candidate following the South Carolina primary (some guy called Barack Obama, have you heard of him?).
As the youngest ex-president since Theodore Roosevelt, Clinton has set a furious pace. Teddy Roosevelt was only 50 when he left office. He spent his time tearing apart the Republican party, bringing down his successor, and, quixotically, collecting species for the Smithsonian while on Safari. He ended up establishing his own ‘bull moose’ party and had another run at the presidency. At least Clinton did the decent thing and left politics to the wife. Clearly, for Clinton there was a love affair that was greater than politics.
The post-presidential period affords plenty of time to rekindle former affectations and reconcile differences. The second and third presidents of the US ceased hostilities after a long period of enmity in 1812. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams enjoyed a correspondence from then until their dying day. They died on the same day in 1826. That day was, remarkably, 4 July.
In this historical coincidence, we see that whatever love a man may have for the presidency, the history of America never fails to conjure up an unsurpassable romance of its own. Presidents come and they go but the magic of America never seems to wane, whoever pines for, or is wedded to, that Oval office. The consummation is short, the memory long, and exes will never be able to let go.