Suitably Flip

Presidential Portraits

Republican, Democrat, Democrat-Republican, Federalist, Whig... no matter the political party, the 43 Presidents of the United States have always managed to cut an impressive and august visage.

From the late 1700s, absent modern dentistry and a healthy eschewal of male wiggery, to the cosmopoliticians of the modern era, our Commanders in Chief have always seemed to maintain a stately and stylish frontispiece.

Cases in point:

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

John Kennedy

Ronald Reagan

Good looking chaps, all.  Solemn, grand, and imposing.

Even the relatively ghastly Abe Lincoln filled out a silver emulsion with regal aplomb.

It's with this in mind (and inspired by an e-mail I received today from my brother, pointing out the picture below, bearing the subject header "A thousand words too many") that I posit the absurdity of this wretched, sad clown ever sharing a gallery with the above-featured countenances.

Cast off politics for this brief, frivolous moment and resign yourself to the exercise of judging these books by their covers.  Is this the face of a President?

18th Century fashions included, are these the pants of a President?

Comments

Presidential Portraits

Republican, Democrat, Democrat-Republican, Federalist, Whig... no matter the political party, the 43 Presidents of the United States have always managed to cut an impressive and august visage.

From the late 1700s, absent modern dentistry and a healthy eschewal of male wiggery, to the cosmopoliticians of the modern era, our Commanders in Chief have always seemed to maintain a stately and stylish frontispiece.

Cases in point:

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

John Kennedy

Ronald Reagan

Good looking chaps, all.  Solemn, grand, and imposing.

Even the relatively ghastly Abe Lincoln filled out a silver emulsion with regal aplomb.

It's with this in mind (and inspired by an e-mail I received today from my brother, pointing out the picture below, bearing the subject header "A thousand words too many") that I posit the absurdity of this wretched, sad clown ever sharing a gallery with the above-featured countenances.

Cast off politics for this brief, frivolous moment and resign yourself to the exercise of judging these books by their covers.  Is this the face of a President?

18th Century fashions included, are these the pants of a President?