The letter here (scroll down to "Corporate influences undermine voters' trust") contains a certain irony. The writer remembers Reagan as the type of president Americans could once trust, but doesn't seem to recall that the path to today's manufactured presidency was paved during the Reagan era. All the hallmarks of the modern presidency -- limited press conferences, staged photo ops, staying on the single message of the day -- were either initiated or perfected during the Reagan presidency. Not to mention the Iran-contra affair, one of the most sweeping instances in history of an administration lying to its constituents.

The last president who truly tried to be the people's president was, for all his faults, Jimmy Carter. Remember him walking to the White House on inauguration day, the cardigan sweaters, the fireside chats (with no actual fire)? Even the infamous "malaise" speech was a failed attempt to connect to Americans at a personal level, like a preacher exhorting the congregation as the sermon winds down. Carter's attempts to humanize the presidency probably helped get him elected, and probably helped get him defeated, and nobody since then has had the courage to try to govern that way.

Ever since Carter, the presidency has been just another p.r. job.