Of the living former presidents, the Bushes have remained out of the spotlight for the most part. President Carter has been somewhat vocal in areas that are close to him such as human rights and Habitat for Humanity. President Clinton is everywhere. I’ve seen him speak at 3 different conferences since he left the Oval Office.
What kind of former president do you think President Obama will be? I see him somewhere between the Bushes and Clinton. Since his girls are still growing, I’d like to think that he’d spend more time with them than a schedule as full as Clinton’s would allow.
He’ll be, what, 56 when he leaves office? Too young to retire, certainly.
He’ll be a lot like Clinton, I would imagine - raking in lots of money from appearances and books, promoting whatever his particular pet causes are, making the occasional stump speech for the Democratic candidate every four years, that sort of thing. I’m sure he’ll take time off immediately after leaving office and of course he’ll get to set his own schedule more or less, so plenty of family time.
I disagree–Obama seems to have a respect for the the Presidency that Carter didn’t/doesn’t. Carter’s pathetic attempts to undermine Clinton/Bush II/Obama with his unsanctioned meddling in affairs he doesn’t understand must have left a bad taste in Obama’s mouth and I can’t see him pulling that shit on his successors, right or left.
I can see him in a statesman-like position where he’s tapped by the president to go do international stuff. I just can’t see him doing it unauthorized, just to get attention like Carter.
I think he’ll be like Clinton for the most part. He’ll take that teleprompter and make millions off it. I agree with Fenris about the Carter thing, as long as that jackass is alive he’ll be an object lesson to Presidents about treating others as you would like to be treated.
Supreme Court justice? No chance. His administration has a horrible record of being overturned on basic Bill of Rights cases. A constitutional professor should have a markedly better record before the Supreme Court than an administration not headed by a constitutional professor. The opposite has occurred, which to me disqualifies him.
One factor with Jimmy Carter was that much of his post presidency was during the conservative Republican era that followed his defeat. Since Carter was an ex-president in the Reagan years and two Bush presidencies, he was often something of an outsider. For quite a while, he was the only living Democratic president!
If Barack Obama is followed by, say Hillary Clinton, and the next 20-30 years is a Democratic era, he will have enormous influence. If, somehow, the Republicans bounce back (and he outlives Bill Clinton), he will be like Carter eventually, the lone liberal in the ex-presidents’ club/
He would never deign to answer questions about the absurd constitutional arguments he ordered Donald Verilli to make in several cases, the kinds of arguments that had even the liberal justices wondering if the President was awake in class.
He won’t be a Justice because he’d have to get confirmed by the Senate, and the Senate will never confirm him unless there are 60 Democrats. Might as well try to appoint GWB, he’s just as qualified.
Obama won’t be near-broke from legal fees and trying to rehabilitate his reputation after a sex scandal. Besides that I think Clinton enjoys glad-handing and may just be a little more shameless about this than Obama would be. And since Obama isn’t disgraced and rejected by most of the planet the way Bush is he’ll still have at least a little international support and can travel without the threat of arrest. He does already have a book deal and I’m sure he’ll find some issues to focus on while still keeping things somewhat low key. What I am sure of is that some conservatives will gripe to the high heavens about every single dollar he makes, every and single penny spent on his personal protection, office, or presidential library. And I also have a sinking feeling that in 10 or 15 years people will say ‘Politics has gotten so awful. In the Obama years the parties fought a lot but at least stuff got done.’
Things always get done, things are getting done right now. Just always less than the party in the White House would like.
I do hope that we conservatives look at Obama as the low point though. I always felt Clinton was unfairly maligned by my side. Now that we see how things can be, he’s a lot more appreciated. Who knows, maybe if his wife becomes President we’ll decide we like working with her and it’ll usher in a new era of partisan comity.
