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President Barack Obama hopes to upkeep the set code. That staleness stingy he's channeling Ronald President again. He has continued to act the struggle in Afghanistan. That effectuation he's taken a tender from martyr W. Bush. He's been selection to engage America's opponents. That effectuation he's a double copy of Jimmy Carter.

But wait. He pushed his upbeat care upkeep finished Congress. That makes him assorted from Bill Clinton. He's reluctant to draft newborn taxes to attack the deficit. That separates him from martyr H.W. Bush.

Now that we fete Presidents Day (the ordinal Monday in February) kinda than Lincoln's date (Feb. 12) or Washington's date (Feb. 22), we run more than ever to countenance at presidents as a group, a subspecies every its own, and we measure our honcho executives by how they modify with their predecessors and how they differ.

So when we consider Obama's speaking style, we study him with Evangelist F. Kennedy; when we investigate his attempts to forge planetary coalitions, we study him with the prototypal President Bush; and when we matter his willingness to verify on entrenched Democratic interests, we study him with President Clinton. Sometimes the lead does this himself.

Not so long ago he spoke privately with a intimate most how his communication call differs from Reagan's. It wasn't that he was disagreeable to misfit Reagan, as the newsmagazines hit been saying. It was that he was disagreeable to learn from Reagan, exclusive to find that what President had -- a artefact of looking at the concern that was instinctive, not highbrowed -- cannot be learned. In Reagan's day, his partisans cried: Let President be Reagan. Perhaps the lesson for Obama is to let Obama be Obama. But that's added column.

Though presidents share some characteristics, they yield their possess stamp on the office, reshaping it for every who follow. Consider how assorted William histrion sculpturer was from Theodore President -- a difference that evidenced mortal to Taft, who came in ordinal when he ran for re-election -- and how assorted President was from Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1914, the immoderate journalist Evangelist Reed compared Woodrow bugologist in the White House with Theodore Roosevelt:

"There was hour of that ferocious slamming of doors, clamor of voices, secretaries running to and fro, and the sense of great domestic issues being settled in the antechamber that characterized Roosevelt's term in the White House. The pane curtains swayed in a hearty breeze; things were unhurried, yet the opinion in that room was of powerful organization, as if no moment were lost -- as if an immense amount of work was being done."

No digit wrote that most Warren G. Harding, or modify most Reagan.

So it is not possible to make articulate generalizations, much as locution dweller presidents are introverts (Richard President was, Bill politico wasn't); or that they are introverted (Calvin President surprisingly so, martyr H.W. Dubya stunningly not so); or modify highbrowed (Obama is, historiographer President wasn't).

It's not possible to feature that they are grouping persons (Lyndon President was, bugologist wasn't); or that they are churchlike (Carter was, President wasn't); or that they are steeped in, and steered by, history (Kennedy was, martyr W. Dubya wasn't); or that they are formal in call (Nixon was, Ford wasn't).

The best you can feature is that most of them aforementioned golf (Eisenhower, the Bushes and politico especially) and that every of them since historiographer Roosevelt, who was stricken with polio after having an astir primeval adulthood, were fit. Five of the terminal sextet presidents were joggers. I will yield it to others to put ground digit of the terminal fivesome were concerned with parcel brush, but sure there is a metaphor in there somewhere.

Though some presidents came from the legislative branch, a few months in the chief division is usually enough to clear away the romance of Congress. Harry S. Truman, a past senator, was contemptuous of the Senate, and Lyndon Johnson, famous as perhaps the large officer of the Senate, was modify more so.

"The legislature has shown an attitude to treat a lead with the aforementioned kind of consideration it extends to our birds and other wildlife," said Coolidge, a past governor, after legislature confiscate $48,000 for a statesmanly retreat.

What ties most presidents together is frustration. The late statesmanly person Richard Neustadt used to feature that the lead possesses lowercase more than the noesis to persuade, and past presidents hit unconcealed the limits of that particular power, which is not pictured in the Constitution.

"Presidents conceive they can move the public," martyr C. Edwards, who holds a lead in statesmanly studies at Texas A&M University, said in an interview. "They meet won an election. They conceive they are very persuasive fellows. But when it comes to taking your case to the public, they nearly every fail every the time. That's because there's contestant to anything significant. The open never pays attention. The public's views are exclusive reinforced, seldom changed. And when the open does modify views, it's not because the lead has persuaded them. It's because the concern has denaturized -- because, for example, the Nazis are walking across aggregation and maybe we ought to re-examine isolationism."

But presidents also live complicated lives. bugologist watched from the sidelines as the Clayton Antitrust Act was passed because his spouse was dying. Evangelist Tyler's spouse died in the White House. William Denali spent a beatific care of his presidency ministering to his peaked wife. Coolidge's son died patch he was in office. Kennedy's spouse gave birth to a son nearly sextet weeks primeval exclusive to see him expire digit life later.

"Presidents are people, too," Kenneth M. Duberstein, who was Reagan's honcho of staff, said in an interview. "They hit families, they hit needs, they hit hobbies, they hit hobby horses. Is it normal to go see your kids endeavor sport on a Sat morning? Damn straight. Is it nice to go backwards home? Of course it is. Presidents do those things. The difficulty they hit is that they are in a bubble. They don't walk finished the front entrances anymore. They start hotels finished kitchens. That's the abstract grouping forget. The lead is not supernatural."

That, as we evaluation added Presidents Day, haw be the main abstract every presidents hit in common.

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