{"id":4891,"date":"2017-05-07T11:39:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-07T18:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=4891"},"modified":"2017-05-07T11:40:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-07T18:40:11","slug":"barack-obama-using-presidency-cash-harry-truman-jimmy-carter-refused","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2017\/05\/07\/barack-obama-using-presidency-cash-harry-truman-jimmy-carter-refused\/","title":{"rendered":"BARACK OBAMA IS USING HIS PRESIDENCY TO CASH IN, BUT HARRY TRUMAN AND JIMMY CARTER REFUSED (theintercept.com)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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May 1 2017<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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DEFENDERS OF BARACK OBAMA\u2019S<\/u> decision to do things like accept a $400,000 check for a speech to a Wall Street brokerage house<\/a>\u00a0argue that the former president might as well cash in \u2014 everyone else does.<\/p>\n

That was Daily Show host Trevor Noah\u2019s defense<\/a>\u00a0of Obama. \u201cPeople are like why doesn\u2019t he not accept the money? No, f*** that,\u201d Noah said. \u201cSo the first black president must also be the first one to not take money afterwards? No no no my friend. He can\u2019t be the first of everything! F*** that, and f*** you. Make that money, Obama!\u201d<\/p>\n

This argument, while common, is based on historical ignorance. It assumes that presidents have always found a way to leverage their political connections post-presidency to make money from interest groups and wealthy political actors.<\/p>\n

But that isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n

It used to be the norm for presidents to retire to ordinary life after their stint in the White House \u2014 just ask Harry Truman.<\/p>\n

When the Democratic president was getting ready to leave the White House in 1953, he was approached by many employers. The Los Angeles Times noted<\/a> that if he was \u201cunemployed after he leaves the White House it won\u2019t be for lack of job offers \u2026 but [he] has accepted none of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of those job offers was from<\/a> a Florida real estate developer, asking him to become a \u201cchairman, officer, or stockholder, at a figure of not less than $100,000\u201d \u2014 the sort of position that is commonplace today for ex-politicians. Presumably, had Truman taken the position, it would have been a good deal for both parties: the president\u2019s prestige and connections would also enrich the company.<\/p>\n

Truman declined. \u201cI could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable, that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency,\u201d he wrote<\/a> of his refusal to influence-peddle.<\/p>\n

Although he had access to a small pension from his military service, Truman had little financial support after leaving office. He moved back<\/a> into his family home in Independence, Mo., and insisted on being treated like anyone else. He would tell people not to call him \u201cMr. President,\u201d and settled on a fairly ordinary routine once he was back in Independence. He would take a morning walk through the town square. He kept an office nearby where he would answer mail from Americans. He chose to engage with just about anyone who walked into his office \u2014 not only people who wrote him big checks, or invited him onto their private yachts and private islands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people,\u201d he once said, \u201cfeel that a president or an ex-president is partly theirs \u2014 they are right to some extent \u2014 and that they have a right to call upon him.\u201d Indeed, his office number was even listed in a nearby telephone directory.<\/p>\n

He eventually agreed<\/a> to write a memoir for Life magazine, but it was a lengthy project that provided far from luxurious stipends.<\/p>\n

Truman\u2019s modest life post-presidency moved Congress in 1958<\/a> to establish a pension system that provides an annual cash payout as well as expenses for an office and staff.<\/p>\n

Gerald Ford nevertheless shattered\u00a0precedent when he\u00a0joined the boards<\/a> of corporations such as 20th Century Fox, hit the paid speech circuit, and was made an honorary director<\/a> by Citigroup.<\/p>\n

But his successor, Jimmy Carter, who grew up in a modest home in Plains, Georgia, did not follow Ford\u2019s example. He refused to become a professional paid speaker or join corporate boards. He moved back to Plains, and was welcomed home by a crowd of neighbors and supporters.<\/p>\n

He quickly made himself busy as a nonprofit founder and a volunteer diplomat. He did make money post-presidency \u2014 but by serving ordinary people, not elites.<\/p>\n

He wrote dozens <\/a>of best-selling books bought by millions of people across the world \u2014 the post-presidency equivalent of small donors.<\/p>\n

Carter explained his thinking to the Guardian in 2011, telling them<\/a> that his\u00a0\u201cfavorite president, and the one I admired most, was Harry Truman. When Truman left office he took the same position. He didn\u2019t serve on corporate boards. He didn\u2019t make speeches around the world for a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The presidents who came after did not choose the same path. At a time when Japan was a major trade rival with the United States, Ronald Reagan flew to Japan for a series of paid speeches after he left office. He accepted $2 million<\/a> for a pair of 20-minute speeches to the Fujisankei Communications Group. An additional $5 million was arranged<\/a> for expenses related to the visit.<\/p>\n

Both Bushes also joined the paid speech circuit, and the Clintons made over $100 million<\/a>\u00a0from banks and other corporations, shortly after the Clinton presidency deregulated Wall Street. \u201cI never made any money until I left the White House,\u201d Bill Clinton lamented <\/a>to a student group in 2009. \u201cI had the lowest net worth, adjusted for inflation, of any president elected in the last 100 years, including President Obama. I was one poor rascal when I took office. But after I got out, I made a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama was hardly facing poverty. He already has a\u00a0$65 million book deal<\/a> and that\u00a0$200,000 annual pension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By joining\u00a0the paid speech circuit \u2014 his spokesperson Eric Schultz told the press<\/a>\u00a0that paid speechmaking will be a fixture\u00a0for the former president \u2014 Obama was making a conscious choice.<\/p>\n

Obama could have been like Truman or Carter, but instead chose to be like Bush and Clinton.<\/p>\n

Top photo: Former President Barack Obama listens as participants speak during a forum at the University of Chicago, on April 24, 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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CONTACT THE AUTHOR<\/span>:<\/span><\/h4>\n
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Zaid Jilani<\/a>\u2709<\/span>zaid.jilani@\u200btheintercept.com<\/span><\/a>t<\/span>@ZaidJilani<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 1 2017 DEFENDERS OF BARACK OBAMA\u2019S decision to do things like accept a $400,000 check for a speech to a Wall Street brokerage house\u00a0argue that the former president might as well cash in \u2014 everyone else does. That was Daily Show host Trevor Noah\u2019s defense\u00a0of Obama. \u201cPeople are like… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4891"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4894,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4891\/revisions\/4894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}