Zaleski: Presidential quotations live forever

A few memorable presidential flubs:

"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?" That's President George W. Bush advocating for a bipartisan public education reform bill. It done passed good. That quotation had Bush's critics asking: "Are our president learning?"

"I did not have sexual relations with that woman!" So said President Bill Clinton when it was alleged—then pretty much proven—that he did do something of a sexual nature with moon-faced intern Monica Lewinsky. Impeached by the House on charges indirectly associated with his randiness, the Senate refused to convict, which should come as no surprise given revelations about the way members of Congress behave toward women, then and now.

"Your president is not a crook." Embattled President Richard Nixon uttered that historic sentence on a national broadcast as he tried to save himself in the deepening Watergate scandal. He might not have been a crook, but he was so paranoid about "enemies" he was willing to risk a constitutional crisis, which was avoided when he resigned.

"I've looked at many women with lust; I've committed adultery in my heart." Those words, along with remarks he made in a Playboy interview about about being attacked by a rabbit, are forever linked to President Jimmy Carter. Having presided over a failed presidency, Carter became the most active former president, particularly in foreign policy, where he has given presidents fits for his unofficial interventions. He's done some good work. But his quote about lust and adultery in his heart—honest as it was—put a spin on his presidency that's still spinning.

And so we come to:

"I'm a very stable genius, like really smart." How can it be that Trump, the most powerful head of state on the globe, has to feed his ego by declaring he's a genius? And not just any genius, but a "stable genius," suggesting he is obsessed with convincing everyone that he does not have bats in the belfry. But there he was, apparently unaware that by decreeing he is mentally fit, he was in effect confirming he might not be. It was like the TV sitcom in which a character who's just out of an asylum says with a crazy-eyed smile, "But I'm feeling much better now."

Presidents' words are consequential. It's why their quotations are in the historical record. No one questioned the sanity of Bush or Clinton, Nixon or Carter, even when their words made us cringe. No one doubted their patriotism or commitment to the nation. None was so vainglorious so as to alibi foibles and failures by claiming to be a "stable genius."

Until now. Until Trump. Genius? Not hardly. Stable? Let's hope so, even as the evidence indicates otherwise.

Zaleski retired in 2017 after nearly 30 years as The Forum’s editorial page editor. He continues to write a Sunday column. Contact him at jzaleski@forumcomm.com or (701) 241-5521.