Connie Duncan of Chandler wrote the Tribune this week, and submitted a copy of an essay from the 1966 book “America and Americans” written by John Steinbeck. This quintessential American author clearly was fascinated by the way that we adore our presidents but at the same time place impossible demands on their shoulders. With the Nov. 4 general election rapidly approaching, Duncan asked (rhetorically?) if American voters have matured in the past 42 years. Look at this final passage from Steinbeck’s essay and tell me what you think:
“The President must be greater than anyone else, but not better than anyone else. We subject him and his family to close and constant scrutiny and denounce them for things that we ourselves do every day. A Presidential slip of the tongue, a slight error in judgment — social, political or ethical — can raise a storm of protest. We give the President more work than a man can do, more responsibility than a man should take, more pressure than a man can bear. We abuse him often and rarely praise him. We wear him out, use him up, eat him up. And with all this, Americans have a love for the President that goes beyond loyalty or party nationality; he is ours, and we exercise the right to destroy him.”
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