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A President Of Our Own

A President Of Our Own

NEW YORK — A new zeitgeist is coming to town, touching down all over the country: New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Madison, Wisconsin, and even my friends in Virginia — Ol’ Virginny, they call the rolling landscape and stronghold of the South.

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton gleamed as she spoke and emerged the winner in the final presidential debate. Armed with actual knowledge, the savvy Clinton put the game away. She left her opponent to skulk and dwell in darkness.

As a harbinger, first lady Michelle Obama is now breathing new life into morale and cohesion among women. She has proved the cut of Clinton’s jib. Let’s just say Donald Trump may be the best feminist organizer since Gloria Steinem founded Ms. Magazine. Thanks to him, the ancient Greek word “misogynist” made it big.

Trump’s shabby treatment of women is now public and, for all we know, criminal. Violence against women is sadly familiar, too, in the workplace, in the home and out in the streets. “Domestic” violence is too good a word. Powerful rich men with media celebrity on their side — Bill Cosby comes to mind — have violated countless women as the spoils of their status. And, yes, they often get away it.

Speaking for womanhood across the land, we’re with her in a more profound, passionate way than most male pundits grasp. For them, a president of the same gender is just what they get, time after time. Few are dancing a jig on the page at the prospect of the first woman president, as they did when the first black president was elected. Just sayin’. In fact, if the American electorate were all white men — “one man, one vote” — Trump would likely be the victor. Thanks, guys.

This is no ordinary time. Clues are everywhere. A clever word inspired by author Rebecca Solnit, “Mansplaining,” just made “Jeopardy!” So there. Jane Austen’s flawless novel, “Sense and Sensibility,” is onstage at the august Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington. And, yes, it was the first time Austen ever appeared there. She (almost) upstaged the Bard. “Will and Jane” is the Folger exhibition title, a cozy wink as if they shared a cup of tea together despite their 200-year age gap.

But it’s time. That simple sweet feeling is written on the wind — don’t you feel it, too? Zeitgeist is a wonderful German word for the spirit of history. Time for the flower of her generation, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to return to the White House in her own right.

President Barack Obama, as well as he’s done lately, can only marvel at the power his former political rival, Clinton, has amassed at her hands. Remarkably, his wife, Michelle, has found and lifted her voice after time spent weeding the White House garden vegetables — and on other inarguable causes.

Yet Michelle Obama, who stayed on the sidelines of the burning issues of her husband’s presidency, broke her silence. She said Trump’s bragging about sexually molesting women shook her to her core. When you have two teenage daughters, that’s even more galvanizing. The popular first lady is speaking out and you can see it in her eyes: She’s not playing. It’s personal.

Here in New York, I had an invitation to speak on another New York senator who ran for president. At 44, he tied Thomas Jefferson, a dozen years older, but settled for vice president. President Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton schemed against him, with Hamilton an even more vicious enemy.

The name was Aaron Burr, ma’am. An elegant character, he cut Hamilton down in their famous duel on a July morning in 1804. They had rowed across the Hudson River to reach a “field of honor.”

A real friend to womankind, Burr adored his older wife, Theodosia, and his daughter, Theodosia. He educated her in a revolutionary way, allowing her to learn subjects he studied at Princeton.

Burr loved the work of English Enlightenment thinker, Mary Wollstonecraft, a “Vindication” of women’s rights. He called it “a work of genius.” He was the only one of the Revolutionary generations to champion women’s equality and the right to vote.

And so we seek the historical moment Burr glimpsed, leaning forward into the future. Counting the days.

To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.

Photo: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S., May 16, 2016.  REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

Visiting The Gallery Of Vice Presidents — Yes, They Do Matter

Visiting The Gallery Of Vice Presidents — Yes, They Do Matter

WASHINGTON — Mike Pence, the Republican Indiana governor, showed more style in the vice presidential debate against earnest Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. So there’s work to do.

Attend closely to each candidate. Ask how the Number Two plays on the national stage and how much the stakes matter. More than you might think. When the Veep steers the ship, at times it’s right into the rocks. Whatever your political party, remember Sarah Palin, the unserious pick made by John McCain, the elderly 2008 Republican standard-bearer. That told us, right quick, about his wild judgment.

Teddy Roosevelt is the sunniest member of the club who succeeded a president who died in office. That was a century ago. Since April 1945, Democrat Harry S. Truman, the ailing Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s vice president, has been seen as another fortunate successor.

Sure, we get lucky across the stepping stones of time. They say Gerald Ford — the only Veep ever to succeed a president who resigned — was a decent chap in the House and as president for two years.

So listen for the voices on the zeitgeist. The first 11 presidents, from George Washington to James Polk, elected in 1844, came in pairs, though Thomas Jefferson had to do one better, with a bunch.

Early leaders in their ambition and lust for power, Jefferson had two Virginia proteges, James Madison and James Monroe, succeed him. The key word is “Virginia,” for they owned slave plantations within riding distance, of course. Nothing but the best for Jefferson.

This created a Virginia presidential dynasty for, wait for it, 24 straight years.

Jefferson had two vice presidents, one of whom was the elegant Aaron Burr, who would have made a better commander in chief than the hapless Madison. The fourth president fled the capital as the British army burned it in 1814.

Unlike Jefferson or Madison, Burr was a Revolutionary Army officer. But he was a younger New Yorker who tied Jefferson in the 1800 presidential election. Jefferson had an enemies list, too, and intrigued against Burr, keeping up the famous charm.

Setting another precedent for the later Bush family, Adams brought his namesake son, John Quincy Adams, to the highest office in 1824, shortly before the father died. But slaveholder and general Andrew Jackson “Old Hickory” beat him in a bitter rematch.

Andrew Jackson’s vice president, Martin Van Buren, succeeded him peacefully, just as Yankee John Adams, the first vice president, succeeded the general on horseback, George Washington. Different as they were, the first Federalists tried to set an example for future generations.

I might add that Jackson groomed a protege to the presidency, James Polk, after he left office. Jackson and Jefferson were presidential history’s only “doubleheaders.”

Then there was beloved Abraham Lincoln, who worked the land himself. But a field trip reminded me he made a near-fatal choice in his 1864 running mate.

Oh, the winds of history blew me away to a stark, chilling sight: a military courtroom. The “Lincoln conspirators” were tried here, with a makeshift gallows built outside at Fort McNair. Four assassination conspirators were convicted and hanged in the summer of 1865. The 16th president was the first one to die in office.

As Civil War guns were stilled, Andrew Johnson, the vice president, could not have been less like Lincoln. The roughhewn, tactless Tennessean was not one to heal wounds of war. Hated by North and South alike, he was impeached.

You know the scene: Ford’s Theatre on a spring night as actor John Wilkes Booth stormed President Lincoln’s box and shot him behind the ear.

It seems the stuff of Shakespearean tragedy. “Macbeth” was Lincoln’s favorite.

The four — one was a woman, innkeeper Mary Surratt — were treated harshly, on Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s orders: kept wrapped in hot blankets and hoods in Washington’s heavy heat. The nation’s blood had spilled again; Lincoln was the final casualty of the Civil War.

To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com

Aaron Burr Is A Great Character, Too, For Right Now on Stage

Aaron Burr Is A Great Character, Too, For Right Now on Stage

Alexander Hamilton is killing it, pardon the expression. George Washington’s adored treasury secretary inspired Hamilton, a Broadway musical. Brash and handsome, Hamilton filled pages of a best-selling biography by Ronald Chernow. Still the $10 bill man, Hamilton could not have planned his posterity better. And yes, the shrewd schemer did plan it.

But give me dashing Aaron Burr, known for his shining eyes and crystal-clear speech, any day. The 48-year-old vice president who cut Hamilton down in 1804 was light-years ahead of his time when it came to women.

In fact, he was years ahead of our time. The 2016 Republican presidential candidates all oppose choice — just the first barometer of their dark state of nature. Compared to Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, or any of their neighbors on Mean Street, Burr is a woman’s best friend. You see, he took seriously women’s civic and political equality.

Perhaps Burr’s exile has lasted long enough. Isn’t it time to refresh our political palettes?

By contrast to the current Republican crowd, Burr studied Enlightenment philosophy, such as The Vindication of Rights of Woman, by Mary Wollstonecraft. He found the first feminist tract a work of “genius.” He had one daughter, Theodosia, whom he educated with the same rigor that he practiced in his student days at Princeton. Burr’s gemlike flame was snuffed out, too, on the summer day that Hamilton died. But they never tell you that part.

To be sure, Hamilton is a marvelous character. Billy goat Donald Trump looks like chump change next to two magnificent New Yorkers who never got to be president, more’s the pity. Hamilton and Burr could have had the presidential Republican field for breakfast and enjoyed the rest of their day. In hindsight, they were the forward-leaning Founders whom we needed to live longer.

The inventor of modern banking, Hamilton was the leading Federalist leader and thinker, with a sharp pen and tongue in political intrigues. He was far from blameless in the duel.

But the weight of history’s verdict has fallen on Burr. It’s worth noting he tied the older Thomas Jefferson for president in 1800. He, not Hamilton, was still destined for greater things.

Hamilton was born illegitimate in the West Indies. Blue-blooded Burr was from a long line of Puritans. Both were orphaned young. What contrast could be more compelling? Their final “interview” on the field of honor was not a simple victim and villain story line.

Chernow leads the school of Hamilton loyalists and tars Burr. Yet here are a few little-known facts: Burr’s gift for oratory made men in the Senate weep. His farewell address is considered one of the greatest floor speeches ever. Plainly put, Burr and Hamilton were the brightest young stars of the Revolutionary generation.

As the sun rose on the Weehawken heights by the Hudson River, two New York lawyers disembarked from boats with their “seconds” to settle a score of slander (Burr challenged Hamilton.) Each man stood 5’6″, and carried himself with confidence and grace. Each served as a Revolutionary War officer. Burr won the encounter with one shot. Yet he lost the larger shooting match.

The Early Republic was too small to hold these rival characters, larger than life.

So can’t we lay down our arms and clear the smoke? Burr’s worthy of a big movie or musical, too; smoldering Sean Penn is perfectly cast in the lead. Note for the script: Burr defused a duel brewing between Hamilton and James Monroe: “I found it not too difficult to convince them both that we cannot afford to lose either of them.”

Burr outlived his opponent by 30 years. He lived with the words of his second: “You have just made Hamilton a great man.”

To settle personal scores, Burr and Hamilton blew away their inheritance. The Revolution itself missed a beat. As Northern city dwellers, breathing in finance, trade and commerce, their nation-building was the way of the world. They were the rightful challengers to Jefferson’s agrarian slaveholding vision. But after the duel, Virginia planters’ lock on power was assured for years.

The tragedy was that two stars were gone from dawn of the American political pantheon.

To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit Creators.com

Image: Vice President Aaron Burr in an 1802 portrait, via Wikimedia Commons.