Warren G. Harding, the patron saint of "Nobody's perfect!" presidencies.
“I don’t think anybody in the world has been perfect on management, everybody that’s ever worked for them. So, yes… it’s a flaw. But I think it’s a human flaw… I admit that I’m an imperfect person and didn’t monitor that as well.”
––GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, responding to ABC’s Jake Tapper’s question about whether his accountability for racially inflammatory statements made in his name in newsletters published by him 20 years ago raise legitimate doubts about his management abilities.
Anyone who’s read this blog much knows what I think of the “nobody’s perfect” excuse for misconduct. To be precise in this case:
1. Nobody said you weren’t human, Ron. Humanity is a rather low bar for a presidential candidate, don’t you think?
2. There is a lot of territory between “perfect” and “letting people write racist and homophobic content under your name in a for-profit newsletter.” For example, the rest of the Republican field is as far from perfect as one could imagine, yet none of them have done that.
3. People who fail to fulfill core management functions when they oversee a project are imperfect, flawed and human, and also called “inattentive and incompetent leaders.” Imperfect, flawed and human individuals can be good and effective Presidents of the United States. Inattentive and incompetent leaders, however, cannot.
Ethics Alarms 
Why not just talk about someone who never believes he needs to make that excuse, because he already is perfect, or nearly so. “Fourth best president in American history,” according to his own assessment.
I think you’re too hard on Paul. He said he denounced the writings at the time, and that he doesn’t think that way. His comments on management were clumsy, but not unethical.
People who reported to me have done things that outraged me, just as any executive has had subordinates violate his trust. That doesn’t make you a bad manager.
Bob, I don’t know what “at the time” means when we’re talking about multiple issues over several years. (He’s also copped to writing “some” of the statements, depending on when he’s been asked. That’s a separate issue, though.) It’s a little like the “one mistake” rationalization. This was a pattern, not a mistake, and nothing in a Congressman’s duties shows us that this key “flaw” has been remedied.
OK, that’s new info to me. I withdraw my dissent.
I think Bob was referring to the twenty year old news letters, which was, I believe, at the heart of the issue according to your article.
It’s simply a maater of wackos congregating to another wacko, Jack! And why does everyone still beat up on poor old Warren G.??
You make a fair point about Warren. He wasn’t the fool and puppet he is represented as in popular belief—among other things, he reversed Wilson’s despicable pro-Jim Crow policies regarding blacks. (It was long rumored that Harding himself was part African American, and he may have been.) But when your Administration is ground zero for something as widespread as the Teapot Dome scandal, “nobody’ perfect” just doesn’t do the job. I guess I could have picked Pierce, Buchanan, Hoover, or Jimmy Carter.
He also beat back a recession by cutting taxes and the government rolls; a policy that Coolidge carried on after him. Hoover and FDR, however, though they had a better idea later on! Harding certainly dropped the ball on the Teapot Dome affair, giving the hostile press a field day. Perhaps, though, his legacy would have been better and fairer if he hadn’t died in the middle of things.
We should also not forget that in the matter of amorous and adulterous excess, he made JFK look like William McKinley. THAT’s probably what killed him…before Mrs. Harding had the chance.
Which leads us to ponder how Bill Clinton will be remembered in 80 years!