Birth of a nation... and the presidency

I finished watching the John Adams miniseries on DVD this week. If you haven't seen it, you should. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are both outstanding. John and Abigail Adams were the first president and first lady to occupy the White House, a residence built largely with slave labor.

With the Obama inauguration is just around the corner--and in the spirit of all things presidential--here's a link to an old post on a great book about the successes and failures of Adams and the other founders, American Creation.

Garrett Epps finds fault with the founders on one particular count in this month's The Atlantic. Namely, their poorly and ambiguously defined role of the president. Read "The Founders' Great Mistake" to learn why he blames the Constitution--and not just George W. Bush--for the executive excesses of the last eight years.