Monday, February 16, 2009

Did You Remember To Send A Card?

If you were wondering, four presidents of the United States were born in February: George Washington, William Harrison, Abraham Lincoln, and Ronald Reagan. By contrast, six were born in October: Carter, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt, Arthur, Hayes, and John Adams. Our current president shares a birthday month with four others: August. I would say that picking February for "Presidents' Day" is statistically myopic.
As a matter of fact, the only month that should be excluded outright would be September. None of our chief executives were born in September. Or maybe that's the reason we should use the ninth month to honor all of the men who have held this high office. Even if Hilary would have won, she was born in October, and John McCain continues to age each August. There must be some statistical or astrological way to explain this anomaly, and I can only hope that someone with much more free time than I have will eventually explain it. But for now, we're stuck with February.
And secretly we all know that it's not about the numbers anyway. It's about favorites. It would be nice to say that overwhelming support of William Henry Harrision's death one month into his administration, or even acknowledgement of the Republican Revolution led by Ronald Reagan created this groundswell of interest in the shortest month of the year. We know that's not the real reason. The two guys who show up on both a coin and a bill, the ones who could not tell lies, the ones who held the nation together when it looked like it might fall apart: George and Abe.
We won't be getting a three day weekend twice in one month, so make the best of it. Buy a mattress. Shop for that new car. Stimulate the economy. It's what the fathers of our country would want you to do.

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