In his column of Jan. 23 (“Why America often comes up short on presidential greatness“), Douglas Rooks cited the work of English aristocrat James Bryce to explain why “great men” are not chosen to be president. I can’t be the only one who then thought of H.L. Mencken, an American journalist and satirist.

In 1920, the Baltimore Evening Sun published a column in which Mencken described how difficult it was for a “first-rate man” to rise to the top in a national election. The electorate, he said, tended to favor someone who is “the most devious and mediocre — the man who can most adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.”

Mencken concluded: “The presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Judging by the list of presidential proclamations, executive orders and unhinged windbaggery of only the first few days of the new administration, clearly that day has arrived.

Scott Gibson
Portland