you can't judge a book by its cover

A while back I bought the book Imperfect Presidents- Tales of
Misadventures and Triumph by Jim Cullen - because it had a rather
attractive-looking Patriotic dust jacket. It also has excellent pictures
of the presidents inside.  It sat around like a knick knack and I would
admire the dust jacket whenever I walked past it.

While packing up for the move I decided to keep it out and read from
it. 

I have not been disappointed by this book.

~~~

The author wirtes about twelve Presidents of the United States
but not necessarily about when they were president. The list
below will show that:

~General Washington
~Vice President-Elect Jefferson
~Former President John Quincy Adams
~Representative Lincoln
~'Gentleman Boss' Arthur
~Dude T.R.
~F.D.R.
~Landslide Lyndon
~Vice President Ford
~The Gipper
~Slick Willie
~President George W. Bush (who was still in
office when the book was written)

~~~

Cullen begins each chapter by revealing the weaknesses
or mistakes of the presidents - and ends each one by
showing how they transcend their human frailities.

The book should be of interest to anyone who realizes
that our presidents are - indeed - human.  And only
confirms my belief that although the a person is elected
to the Presidency and gains respect or disdain on an
individual basis - the job is pretty heavy for one person
to take all the responsibility for.

And the weight of the responsiblities is getting heavier
all the time.

It really seems as if it is too heavy for one person - so without
changing the office that the Founding Fathers chose for our
Country - perhaps we can step up and lighten the load for
our leaders-to-be.

~~~

How do we do this?

Through cooperation, working together, unity, sacrifice, perhaps
less government machinary - well, you know what I'm saying
 - stuff like that.

~~~

Jim Cullen is also author of  Born in the USA, The American
Dream, and other books.  He has taught at Harvard, Brown,
and Sarah Lawrence College, and currently teaches at the
Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York, where he also
serves on the Board of Trustees.  He lives in Hastings-on-Hudson,
New York.