On Temperament

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once rendered a famous verdict on FDR. "A second-class intellect. But a first class temperament!"
I have read psychologist Jerome Kagan's pioneering work on temperament. The subject of temperament is immensely fascinating to me. Franklin Roosevelt indeed had a first-class, presidential temperament. No one ever accused him of being an intellectual, but it didn't matter. He was devious to be sure and was a called sphinx, but so could Washington and Lincoln be called a sphinx. He was the most consequential American of the 20th Century by far. (And now Gingrich takes aim at him). This thought comes to mind because we have a elected a man to our highest office who has a complete anti-temperament for the office. How tragic. There is no FDR in sight.