Ex-Presidents

How quickly we forget.

Approval ratings for ex-presidents have improved since the officials left office, according to this article. Both Carter and Bush, Sr., are viewed more favorably these days... This makes sense for several reasons. For one thing, many Americans aren't old enough to remember what it was like to live under those presidents.

For another, we're in the middle (or beginning) of a deep economic downturn and we're involved in wars overseas, to mention a few major issues troubling consciences today; even if these crises aren't really as bad as the crises facing Americans years ago, people today don't recall those past crises as vividly as they worry about what's occupying us in the present. George W. Bush's rating is so low currently, that many feel whoever preceded him must have done a better job. After all, humans are nostalgic -- our minds will enhance past memories, and oftentimes a particular memory we think about so longingly was really not as idyllic as we now think.