Working on problems, blaming others, Economic prosperity, Tripling the debt, Substance, Oratory flare

Experience, Judgment, and Character: The Road from Eisenhower to Obama

By Paul Ibbetson Friday, June 26, 2009

I recently found myself in the childhood home of Dwight D. Eisenhower in Abilene, Kansas. It was a tremendous experience to hear the creek of the floorboards, to see the handcrafted furniture, and to feel the texture of the wallpaper (even though that is probably against the rules for visitors) in the boyhood home of one of the most important historical figures of the United States. They say that the Eisenhowers lived on the wrong side of the tracks, but you can’t tell that today. What you can tell, is that the Eisenhower family home was not a place of extravagant frills, but of family necessity, with a delicate dash of austere country beauty.

It was from my visit to Abilene, Kansas, that I thought myself bold enough to compare the man they called “Ikeâ€