Farewell, President
The latest thoughts by Martin Marty from
"Sightings," January 19, 2009.
Tomorrow,
they
tell
us,
is
an
epochal
day
in
America
and
on
the
world-scene,
so
we'll
choose
to
be
reflective
about
some
of
its
meanings.
The
dictionary
says
that
sighting
is
"the
act
of
catching
sight
of
something,
especially
something
unusual
or
searched."
The
original
charter
of
Sightings
was
to
"search"
for
sights
of
religion
in
public
life
and
public
issues
in
religion,
back
when
it
was
rarer
to
"catch"
sight
of
such.
A
canvass
of
press
and
media
coverage
during
the
weeks
up
to
and
including
the
weekend
just
past
suggests
we
do
not
have
to
"search"
or
"catch
sight
of."
Rather,
so
massive
is
the
coverage
that
we
have
to
squint
and
blink
to
protect
the
searching
eye.
To
the
point
of
it
all:
The
text
for
our
meditation
is
something
the
late
columnist
Mike
Royko
wrote
when
he
bade
good-bye
to
the
presidency
of
Lyndon
B.
Johnson.
My
Royko
books
are
in
storage
and
what
he
said
was
not
lifted
up
by
Google
and
other
search
engines,
but
it
was
etched
in
my
mind,
and
I
hope
that
my
reproduction
is
faithful.
It
went
something
like
this:
"Farewell,
President
Johnson.
You
weren't
the
best
president
a
people
ever
had,
but
we
were
not
the
best
people
a
president
ever
had."
This
season
people
are
still
debating
whether
President
Bush,
who,
I
think,
is
being
mentioned
in
this
column
for
the
first
time
on
his
last
day
in
office,
is
"the
worst
president
a
people
ever
had,"
and
I
don't
think
we
are
"the
worst
people
a
president
ever
had."
But
Inauguration
Day
is
a
good
time
to
reflect
on
"what
kind
of
people
we
have
been"
and
"what
kind
of
people
might
we
wish
to
be
and
might
become."
Presidents
of
both
parties
from
Eisenhower
to
Clinton
have
cited
Alexis
de
Tocqueville,
the
great
commentator
on
American
life:
"America
is
great
because
America
is
good."
Two
problems:
Tocqueville
never
wrote
that
–
look
it
up!
And
"good"
is
too
hard
to
define,
is
too
much
in
the
eye
of
the
beholders,
and
is
far
too
crisp
and
clean
for
any
nation
to
advertise,
since
the
record
of
each
is
mixed,
and
more
mixed
each
year.
What
kind
of
people
do
we
want
to
be
with
a
new
president
who
has
such
lofty
ideas
about
what
he
wants
to
be?
A
sermon:
We
might
do
better
if
we
aspire
to
be
good
rather
than
claim
to
be
good;
if
we
become
a
self-claimed
godly
people
who
serve
God
more
than
we
boast
about
our
goodness;
if
we
spend
less
time
fighting
over
who
prays
when
and
where
and
how,
and
let
the
intrinsic
value
of
praying
speak
for
itself.
What
kind
of
people
do
we
want
to
be?
It
would
be
good
to
see
us
as
a
people
weary
of
"culture
wars"
in
which
God
gets
used,
and
ready
for
armistice
and
truces
so
we
can
fight
the
political
battles
that
must
be
fought
in
pursuit
of
justice;
a
self-claimed
godly
people
that
stops
legitimating
torture
of
humans;
a
less
litigious
people
who
concerns
itself
with
building
trust;
a
people
that
will
turn
down
the
shouting
on
talk-radio,
cable
television,
and
the
internet,
so
that
we
can
hear
each
other.
What
kind
of
people
do
we
want
to
be?
A
people
not
paralyzed
by
fear
and
insecurity
in
the
face
of
fearful
threats;
a
people
more
dedicated
than
before
to
the
education
of
all
and
health
care
for
all;
a
people
concerned
with
the
environment
given
–
many
of
us
say
–
by
a
generous
Creator;
a
people
concerned
for
the
rights
of
others.
In
four
or
eight
years
we
hope
to
bid
our
now-new
president
farewell
upon
his
retirement:
"Farewell.
Your
and
our
record
is
mixed,
but
there
is
good
in
it.
And
you
and
we
and
the
people
we
affect
can
live
with
that."
Filed Mon - January 19, 2009, 11:12 AM in
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