Has a president ever left office relatively young, with high approval and favorability ratings, and with no significant scandals hanging over his head?
Bill Clinton? Sure he had scandals but that was mostly resolved before he left office.
Yeah, he’s the obvious comparison. He didn’t have any significant non-personal scandals hanging over him, but I think there really was a significant backlash through the country due to his personal scandals (even if the Republicans in Congress were blamed more than him for making it public and not letting it end) that meant he wasn’t nearly as influential as he would have been without them.
Corollary question: has there ever been a time when so many have wished so fervently that the 22nd Amendment didn’t exist? 
The relatively young screens out a lot since Obama is the fifth youngest. Clinton, at 4th, already came up. Kennedy died in office. Grant had scandals. That just leaves Teddy Roosevelt and they weren’t polling for job approval back then.
The elder Bush left office within the MOE of where Obama is now; he was at 56%. He was 13 years older though.
I think the closest example to Bill Clinton is Teddy Roosevelt. He was only 50 when he left office in 1908. He must have been popular enough to get his protege William Howard Taft elected, and he was right back in the game four years later.
Looking at final approval ratings, Eisenhower was at 59%, Johnson at 49%, Ford at 53%, Reagan at 63%, Bush 1 at 56%, Clinton at 66%.
So that leaves relatively young and no scandals. Was pardoning Nixon a scandal? Ford was 64. Is that old? He lived 30 more years. Was Vietnam a scandal? Johnson was only 60. Clinton was 54, younger than Obama. Do you really consider Monica Lewinsky a lasting scandal?
You’re trying too hard to make Obama special.
Even as a young’un I took notice of what a president’s life was like after they “graduated” from office.
It was quite a contrast to see Gerald Ford speaking at country club luncheons for large sums, and Jimmy Carter (and Roz) with their toolbelts on, building houses with Habitat for Humanity.
I’m hoping Obama turns out to be one of the latter.
I’d like to see Hilary nominate Obama for the Supreme Court, although I can’t see Michelle going for it.
True enough, but Ford was barely able to beat Reagan for the GOP nomination in '76, and he was was unable to win re-election. People still weren’t happy about Watergate, and while pardoning Nixon wasn’t a scandal, it didn’t do Ford any favors. The economy was struggling, and Ford’s “Whip Inflation Now” program did little to help it.
Add in the energy crisis and the botched swine flu vaccination program, and I think that, while Ford came across as a good man, he didn’t come across as a particularly effective president.
Is there anything legally stopping Clinton from appointing Obama to her cabinet? Imagine the heads exploding on the right if Clinton appointed Obama secretary of state.
Nothing legally stopping her. It would be a massive political mistake and destroy her reputation, but she could do it.
Only Senate approval. Just like if she put him forward as a nomination to SCOTUS. So, approval would depend on the balance of power in that chamber.
Just because it’s tradition not to have an ex President in your cabinet? I mean she’s already hated vehemently by the GOP, they’re already going to obstruct everything she does and probably try and impeach her if they still have control of the Senate and Congress, or regain them in the midterms.
That’s a dream that will never happen. SCOTUS nominees don’t have records to pore over. He does, and he’d have to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions about his thinking on issues like religious freedom, the 10th amendment, whether or not people can be forced to buy health insurance, the 2nd amendment, the 1st amendment, really the whole Bill of Rights. Plus his expansive views on executive power would concern many progressives who aren’t doe-eyed over the guy. Judges have to be consistent. The same power he wanted for himself he will grant to a Republican President.
By the time the hearings are over, he’ll have his personal fanbase and pretty much no one else.
Besides, there’s no money in the Supreme Court. Obama’s going to go get rich now.
One could argue that putting him in the line of succession to the presidency violates the 22nd amendment. If he were to become SecState, he’d be 4th in line.
And the idea that he’d want to be on the SCOTUS is laughable. Why tie himself up for what would essentially be the rest of his life?
Sure, but he’s not eligible so the line of succession would skip him and go to SecTreasury instead. Anyway yes I realise this will never happen for many reasons.
Um, there just happens to be a guy in the Obama administration with more foreign policy cred and who actually might want to continue to serve. Which some of you might notice if you removed your lips from Obama’s ass long enough.
It was a hypothetical, I was never suggesting it should happen.
Like most ex-Presidents, Obama will a) make money, b) relax, and c) get involved in some things he feels passionate about.
However, let’s think about one guy who did have a post-Presidential political career: John Quincy Adams. Dick Durbin is an old fart. Perhaps Obama could be talked into going back to the Senate when Durbin retires?
Obama’s talents lie mainly in being a politician, so the only really suitable job for him if he wants to continue his political career is to continue to be an elected politician. So back to the Senate with him if that’s what he wants.