In my mind, Bush 41 does a good job of representing what I think of as the ideal president theoretically...in the context of this discussion, that is. He didn't have a lot of charm, so folks didn't necessarily look to him for guidance in the ways of personality. He didn't try to grow or to make the office into anything more than it essentially is. He didn't try to dictate morals to the populace. He didn't have any important peccadillos, at least that we knew about...and that's part of the point. Maybe he did have them but we just weren't that interested in them, because he wasn't the kind of guy that paparazzi would follow around.
Yet he did a fine job of administering the government, and also of leading the military. And in the end we didn't re-elect him...I guess because he was too boring for most people.
In his time out of office he has mostly been out of the public eye, which is exactly how it should be. I don't think you will find too many Americans who are all that interested in what George Bush senior thinks about things. Good. He did his job, he did it well, and then he got the hell out of the way.
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