We’ve Lost Our Boundaries“The president wears many ‘hats.’  In recent years the president has added a new hat:  ‘Celebrity-in-Chief’…

…All this started with the attractive and charismatic Kennedy family, America’s Camelot.  It revved up again during the Reagan years with their monarchical airs. Now, with the proliferation of media outlets and a lowering of the bar for journalism, presidents have become part of the world of entertainment…

…Now, with the proliferation of media outlets and a lowering of the bar for journalism, presidents have become part of the world of entertainment. It is difficult for a president to straddle the different worlds of pop icon and chief executive. Too much exposure leads to backlash, too little leads to a hunger for more.”

-Michael A. Genovese, Memo to a New President:

The Art and Science of Presidential Leadership

“Poll” on quanz.com September 8, 2010

We Want Masculine “It's possible that because (especially in the TV age) the electorate seeks out tall, charismatic presidents, and because presidents are figureheads for the nation, that we can't resist seeing them in sexual terms.  Perhaps not all presidents are paragons of masculinity, but they loom large enough that we're interested in their masculine behavior.”

-Benjamin L. Carp, Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution

“If Marshall's list was about presidential nicknames, #1 has to be Zachary Taylor: ‘Old Rough n’ Ready.’”

We Just Can’t Help Ourselves

-Matt Caporaletti, Jeopardy champion

& The Oxford Comment guest star

Some Like to Keepthe Founders Pure

“Ben Franklin was sleeping with women in Paris when he was in his eighties; Thomas Jefferson had an affair with a married woman to whom he wrote an incredible love letter; Alexander Hamilton also had an affair with a married woman that led, indirectly, to his duel with Aaron Burr…The love letter Jefferson wrote with the opposite hand because he had fractured wrist!

…George Washington is seen as something of a prude—and indeed he was probably impotent!!! And John Adams and Abigail held on tight to each other…

The irony of the Washington Monument

…But I’m not sure how widespread any of this and certainly most Americans still feel too reverential to the Founding Fathers to take any pride in their sex lives. Don’t forget, Jefferson had an ongoing sexual relationship with one of his slaves—Americans just don’t want to face that despite the award-winning work of Annette Gordon-Reed.”

-Louis P. Masur, The Civil War: A Concise History

When Facebook and Academia Meet:

We See Sexual Politics Do Matter“The Facebook syndrome of simply wanting to know whether James Buchanan was gay is supplemented by a much more narrowly based curiosity about whether his being gay influenced his actions as a politician and then as president…

…Needless to say, the higher a president’s profile, the greater the interest.  Hence, the recurrent suggestion that Lincoln was bisexual or gay and subsequent efforts to assess the significance thereof…

…When I'm teaching US history surveys, my approach to presidents varies according to what I am emphasizing the course or about a particular presidency.  I certainly mention JFK's antics as well as those of Bill Clinton, which, as I point out, didn't seem to have much lasting effect on his approval ratings.  In fact, the more critical fire he drew for his dalliances, the more people seemed to like him and despise his critics.  I also note that whatever negative fallout resulted from his misbehavior appeared to burden Al Gore’s presidential campaign more than it hurt Clinton personally.”

-James C. Cobb, The South and America Since World War II