If you were just half a Grateful Dead fan, you will breeze through all six episodes. Every interview has intelligent and thoughtful accountings of the odyssey of the Grateful Dead. The depth was unexpected. Tons of great unearthed footage and culture as backdrop from a musical era that already sticks to many of us forever.
I wasn’t a Deadhead, by any stretch, but I appreciated the band for what they were trying to do. Mostly it was Jerry Garcia’s guitar, and Robert Hunter’s thinking man’s lyrics that made me a fan. I had their first 8 or 9 albums and then I fell off in ’74. Unlike the true acolyte, I didn’t hang on every note and word, following them from show to show, convinced of a deeper meaning of it all. Still, I had plenty of Dead favorites that I enjoyed just for the music’s sake. I suppose Jerry would be just fine with that.
Former President Bill Clinton, left, speaks to former President Jimmy Carter during a discussion at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
The impressive output of life work done by both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton after they left office is unchallengeable, if not extraordinary. No matter what their political or personal failures had been as Presidents, nor their mistakes in calculating complex national policy or foreign engagement decisions, all of which makes them no different from any who took the pledge before and since, their post presidency behaviors put them in a separate class that few have belonged.
By looking at these men as examples, two who have redefined philanthropy and humanitarian endeavors, perhaps the best and fairest way to sum up any past President’s values and dedication to a mission, is not by solely assessing the typical President’s tenure of congressional bickering, manipulative stalemates, politically licensed bribery, conflicts, double standards, and compromises.
By looking at their life ahead, after they left elected office, we get to see ex politicians less encumbered by our flawed democratic process, and more effective in doing what they really want to do as private individuals.
There’s a lot to be learned by observing Presidents after they leave the White House. Carter and now Clinton are two we should be proud of.
