John McCain and Barack Obama each want to be the 44th president. What could George Washington, the first president, tell them?
Washington would be worth listening to, not only as a predecessor in the job, but as a man who filled executive roles for most of his life – commander-in-chief, plantation owner.
Our candidates are both legislators; one was a squadron commander, the other a community organizer. Washington might look at these resumes and wonder whether modern America thought the presidency could run on automatic.
But, since Washington took his assignments seriously, he’d probably buckle down and say something like this.
On McCain: Every leader has to make an inventory of his character traits, flaws included. Washington and McCain share a flaw: temper.
Washington scorched Gen. Charles Lee at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 – one veteran said he swore “till the leaves shook on the trees.” He lost it again in at least one Cabinet meeting – Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson wrote in his journal that the president could “not contain himself.”
Washington never banished his temper – some flaws are too ingrained – but he did learn to cool down. After both tantrums, he returned to the matter at hand – winning the battle, settling policy – without reference to his anger.
He would note the McCain campaign’s latest staff shake-up and applaud McCain’s ability to cut his losses. When he saw that Virginia’s prestige crop didn’t earn enough to keep Mount Vernon solvent, Washington switched from growing tobacco to humbler but more lucrative wheat.
Yet he’d also ask why McCain’s campaign staff keeps needing shake-ups (there was another a year ago). A leader has to keep his eye on the details. Most of Washington’s energy as commander-in-chief was consumed by organization and logistics, down to the level of latrine maintenance.
On Obama: Washington lacked Obama’s skills as a writer and speaker. He was neither as lucid as Jefferson nor as eloquent as John Adams. But he had his own communication skill – his commanding presence – and he worked to perfect it, designing his own uniforms, projecting a dignified bearing.
He would tell Obama to keep playing to his strengths – but also warn him that communication isn’t everything. Jefferson and Adams both had troubled presidencies. Words and appearances have to be backed by a consistent record of deeds.
Washington would also tell Obama not to be overawed by experts. If Obama wins, he’ll be surrounded by people who’ve been in national government longer than he has. Washington had the confidence to consult with advisers who were smarter than he was – George Mason, Jefferson, James Madison – but also disagree with them when necessary.
Mason, after working with Washington to write the Constitution, opposed ratifying it, while Jefferson and Madison left Washington’s presidential team to found the first opposition party in American history. Washington followed his own path.
On veep picks: Washington never had a running mate (he served before the 12th amendment required one), but he did judge his officers and his Cabinet. He’d tell both McCain and Obama to look outside the box. He tapped Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller, to be his commander of artillery, and Alexander Hamilton, a Caribbean immigrant, to be first Treasury secretary. Both men had performed well in small assignments first; Washington didn’t hesitate to throw them into big jobs.
To voters: Washington would have advice for us, too – the same he gave in his 1783 Circular to the States, as the Revolution was winding down. After listing the new country’s advantages, he said that if Americans could not be free and happy, the fault would be “entirely their own.”
It’s not all up to the war hero or the great uniter: We have a role, too.
Richard Brookhiser’s latest book is “George Washington on Leadership.”