I’m not a big fan. I think it’s all about mattress sales – well, anything sales actually – and is just one day when we don’t get all the junk mail about those sales because it’s a federal holiday.
I also don’t much like that by forcing Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on Feb. 12 into an arbitrary Monday with George Washington’s birthday on Feb. 22, both president’s stature is somehow diminished.
Having a generic President’s Day isn’t a bad idea, though. It could be sort of like Chinese New Year with certain year’s designated as the Year of the Rat (like this year which began on Feb. 7) or the Dog (that’s me), and so on. Well, instead of 12 animals like the Chinese calendar uses, we could have presidential groups where every 10 or 12 (whatever) years, we honor a certain grouping of presidents. How about War Presidents like Washington, Madison, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Johnson ... well, that’s kind of big group. How about Related Presidents like Adams and Adams and Bush and Bush ... kinda too small, huh? Maybe Ascended Presidents like Tyler, Truman, Johnson, Ford ... they may have too much baggage to keep in perspective, though. I’d suggest Bachelor Presidents, but Buchanan’s all by himself.
I’d suggest Promised-Lots-But-Accomplished-Nothing or What-Was-He-Thinking Presidents, but – depending on who’s doing the groupings – that could end in a free-for-all like is sometimes acted out in Japanese government gatherings or in the House of Commons in England – sort of a rugby game played in suits.
I guess we’ll just have to wear a stove-pipe hat on top of a white wig and carry a hatchet – or false teeth – on Monday as we observe that the price of a first class stamp will go up one-cent more in May.