History, as I remember it, is full of ups and downs.

Years ago I wrote a sharp-edged poem about the then President at that time, Mr. Ronald Reagan, who won the election because he had been in movies.

This was after he had nearly ruined California, almost destroying the University of California, and saving money by closing hospitals, dumping the patients, dressed only in hospital gowns, on the street as the ambulance drove away.

I sent my poem to the New Yorker. They returned it, saying it was “too ad-hominem.”

Of course it was! That was the point!

Things began to blur for him and he went into decline. He thought he had actually served in the military but only acted in a war movie. Hollywood had protected him from the draft so he didn’t need to claim bone spurs.

We all remember, don’t we? how in his final years in office, early onset Alzheimer’s became more noticeable, he took some unscheduled time off, and Nancy briefly ran the country in his name.

And that famous bit shown on the news, where Nancy, holding his hand like a baby learning to walk, led him along, and a reporter yelled, “Mr. President, how are we doing?”

He had lost his words, and Nancy, guiding him, whispered, “We’re doing the best we can,” and he repeated, “We’re doing the best we can.”

His best was not good enough.

That was our President. And he was not the worst.