Did you have a fun President’s Day holiday? It was Monday. If you tried to do any bank business you may have found out the hard way that the Federal Reserve is closed on this February salute to the U.S. leaders of the free world, which means all financial institutions follow suit. Perhaps you do your bill-paying online and found that your payments were delayed, necessitating a call to your creditors explaining why your funds would be late and begging them not to ding you financially for your tardiness. (Good luck.)

You may or may not have noticed that the rest of the federal government had the day off as well. I think only essential workers had to report for duty on the holiday. So aside from the guy that follows the President of the U.S. around all the time with the “football” (the briefcase containing the key parts needed to launch nuclear weapons), pretty much everybody else getting a bi-weekly paycheck from Uncle Sam slept in and watched Netflix all day.

I didn’t see too many stories about how those folks We the People were supposedly honoring spent their day of tribute. So, I thought it might be kind of fun to speculate.

The oldest surviving ex-Pres is Jimmy Carter. Since he’s been in hospice care for a year or so now and is 99, I’m just going to guess he didn’t get out to participate in any festivities. There have been rumors in the past that Mr. Carter enjoys a scoop of peanut butter ice cream when he’s in a party mood, so perhaps he dug into that sweet treat at some point Monday.

Bill Clinton used to like to play golf a lot, although it’s tough to get a tee in the ground in New York this time of year. Perhaps his staff saluted him with a Snakebite. I read somewhere sometime that it’s his favorite drink and consists of one part cider and one part lager mixed in equal amounts. He may have had to consume more than one if Hillary spent the day saying things like, “This should have been my day too, you know.”

George W. Bush loves baseball. He could have been in Arizona or Florida watching pitchers and catchers go through their routines in the early days of Spring Training. His historic first pitch at Yankee Stadium right after 9/11 showed he’s got a pretty good arm. I wonder if the Rangers (the team he used to own) or some other squad would let him take batting practice or shag a few fly balls in the outfield. Sounds like a good way to spend a holiday to me.

Barack Obama is a basketball fan. I’m pretty sure he made it to the NBA All-Star game in person when it was played in Chicago a few years ago. Not certain if he was in Indianapolis for the event this year that just happened to coincide with the President’s Day weekend. I would imagine he usually manages to score a courtside seat, and I don’t recall seeing a parade of players who would have lined up to greet him. Maybe he and Michelle were snowed in on Martha’s Vineyard perhaps working on campaign strategy just in case she’s called upon by the Democratic National Committee to fill in for someone later on this year. (I won’t mention any names.)

Given Donald Trump’s larger-than-life persona, you have to wonder if he thought the day was just all about him. If he had a party to celebrate his status as one of the chosen few, no doubt it was “huge.” With the recent not-to-his-liking issues facing him in New York, chances are he chose to spend the day in southern Florida hanging out with Melania or perhaps even raising the stakes on his golfing Nassau bets to help cover the $355 million that a judge has decreed he owes in fines. (Do you suppose he has that judge’s face imprinted on his golf balls and is hitting his drives harder and farther than ever?)

Joe Biden reportedly spent his President’s Day at his beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware. There were some wags who suggested he might have asked his staff questions such as, “What’s this? A party? For me? What’s the occasion? Am I still President?” But nothing could be confirmed, and those wags may well have been having a little fun with Mr. Biden (although no one actually denied the reports).

I suppose those who have held the highest office in the land are due a salute once a year, regardless of political persuasion. It ain’t easy being President. But couldn’t the holiday be moved to, say, August? It’s too darn cold in February.

©MMXXIV. William J. Lewis, III – Freelance Writer