Happy President's Day out there

On this President's Day (which some people will think was created just to honor our current president-NOT TRUE....) I thought I would look back at some of the most underrated Prezes of our time. (PS I started watching the HBO John Adams miniseries last night. Pretty good thus far. But whenever Laura Linney comes on screen I say "Hey Karl." Don't know why.)

First up... John Tyler. The 10th president was the first president to come into the office through the process of succession, after William Henry Harrison died one month into his term. JT was from the great state of VA, so I have to give him props for that. AND he annexed the Republic of Texas into the Union in 1845. So he had that going for him too. Without that, my wife would have been an alien and I would have thought that perhaps she only married me for a green card. (Instead she married me for my great body.)

Next up, James Monroe. Another Virginia guy, he oversaw the "Era of Good Feeling," and he was a near unanimous selection, with one vote going to his opponent so that George Washington remained the only unanimous election. While I have to fing fault with him for the acquisition of Florida (while we got Disney out of it, we also had to accept the Gators. Grrr), he DID break ties with France from the War of 1812. And the best thing that might have come from his run was the Monroe Doctrine. (Though this sometimes gets confusing to some: The Monroe Doctrine, simply stated said that European powers were no longer allowed to colonize in the Americas, or interfere with the affairs of the newly independent states of the Americas. The United States would not interfere with existing colonies or their dependencies in the Western Hemisphere. However, any attempt by a European nation to oppress or control any nation in the western hemisphere would be seen as an act of aggression and the United States would intervene. Thanks Wikipedia!) In my opinion this would lead to isolationism in early 1900s, which the world killed us for, but now wishes we would do again. MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. Monroe's terms also saw Maine (lobsters), Illinois(Cubs), Bama(Houndstooth hats), Missouri(not sure) and Mississippi(hot chicks) become states. Overall a pretty good run, but he doesn't get his due.

Finally, TR aka Teddy Roosevelt. This guy was George W Bush, but back when people still respected the presidency. He didn't care about Congress's opinion on war, once sending troops across the Pacific and saying "If they want them back after 90 days, they can pay for it!" And people didn't ride around with Bumper stickers saying "less Roosevelt!" or "I didn't Vote for him!" (Yeah, you didn't vote PERIOD you hippy!)
But TR was a genuine bad-ass. I think the REAL reason everyone liked him? Quite possibly from his time as NY Governor when he helped out Jack Kelly's cause and gave him a ride to the train station, only to talk him into staying and getting the girl, and crushing Dave's hopes of taking over the Newsies. Yeah right Dave. YOU SUCK! The Newsies would have followed Les or Racetrack before they followed you! (I always got the feeling that Jack got out of TR's car, looked at Dave trying to move in on his empire and yelled, "Grab your shinebox!" Did Jack ever seek any payback for the attempted mutiny? Pirates used to bury alive traitors like that, or make them walk to plank. I've seen PirateMaster on CBS.com!) He is also on Mount Rushmore, with all of the greats. Throw in Teddy bears and you have yourself a zonetastic Prez.