New Delhi, Sept. 7 -- It is one of the biggest ironies of life that two of the most important jobs in the world-that of a parent and of the president of the world's most powerful country-do not call for prior training.

In both cases, the hope is that one will learn on the job. In both, the stakes are high; as is the cost of failure. But there is one key difference.

The damage one can do as a knowledge-proof parent is largely limited to one's children. In the case of White House occupants, however, to rephrase Shakespeare a bit, the harm that men do lives after them, while the good is oft interred with their bones.

What history makes of the legacy of the 47th President of the United States of America cannot be foretold, but our hearts m...