From today’s David Brooks column I learned the following:

* Great presidents “tend to be emotionally secure” — except for, say, Lincoln, who was clinically depressed.

* A great president is likely to have been raised “in an aristocratic family” — although Brooks-designated greats such as Eisenhower, Lincoln, and Reagan weren’t born aristocrats.

* Great presidents tend to have “experienced crushing personal setbacks” — except for, say, Reagan, whose worst setback was that a character he played in a movie had his legs amputated.

* Great presidents are usually “experienced political insiders” — except for Ike, who’d never previously held elective office.

* “[G]reat presidents tend to have superb political judgment” — which is another way of saying that people who are good at being politicians … are good at being politicians. Thank you, Professor Tautology.

(X-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.)