A President Unplugged

On a recent episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, writer Jon Meacham was the featured guest. Does that name sound familiar? Meacham is an editor for Newsweek and the author of The American Lion, a non-fiction book about Andrew Jackson’s revolutionary presidency from 1829-1837. We recently read Meacham’s summary of his book in class from a Newsweek article titled “The Change Agent.” While the artifact for AIS mostly talks about Andrew Jackson and the changes he brought to the United States, Meacham’s interview with Jon Stewart brings up some interesting parallels between Andrew Jackson and today’s politicians.

In the interview, Meacham describes Jackson as “our first populous president, a man of the people.” Jackson was the first president to be a direct representative of the common voter, rather than the well-educated aristocrat. He was really the first “Joe Six-Pack” president. As a Tennessee man from humble beginnings with few political connections, he earned the enthusiastic support and backing of Americans who saw themselves in him. Jackson rose from the bottom of society to the top, and gave people hope that they could be anything they wanted to be.

Based on this, I think that Andrew Jackson is the perfect mix of Senator John McCain and President-elect Barack Obama. Like John McCain, Jackson was a war hero who later aggressively campaigned as a maverick politician. Jackson wanted to revolutionize the position of President of the United States, just as John McCain strove to do if elected. Both were tough men who didn’t take no for an answer.

But Jackson is also similar to Obama in a way that helped them both win. Jackson’s presidency gave hope to millions of Americans who weren’t rich or well-educated. He inspired them to believe that with hard work, anything was possible. When Obama won this year’s election, he gave that same hope to African-Americans, first-time voters, and other minorities. Meacham adds that Jackson is similar to Obama because “he had a core group of supporters who firmly believed that he would do anything for them…” He also cites Jackson’s “amazing connection to people” that Obama shares.

But Meachem does lament one big change in American politics that makes the Jackson era very different from Obama’s. “It’s frustrating we’ve allowed politics to get as ‘scripted’ as it is today,” Meacham told Stewart, citing about eight scandals that Jackson managed to survive, any one of which would have quickly ended a current politician’s career. Today’s scrutiny, he explains, is just too harsh, and the soundbites too scripted.

No doubt that’s one big reason why Meacham’s book on Jackson will be a best-seller. Call it President Unplugged.