What you don't know about Presidents Day- Emily Miller

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/15/politics/presidents-day-history-washington-birthday/index.html

Presidents Day for many is just a day off of work or school. For some stores, it even means a sale (wow)! But in 1885, it meant honoring George Washington.
Originally, February 22 became a federal holiday to celebrate Washington's birthday. People looked up to him because he was noble; his interests were not corrupted by power or money. Later, after Lincoln's assassination, people began to remember him the same way too. So in 1971, Congress moved the holiday to the third Monday in February. The meaning was expanded to celebrate the good qualities of Lincoln and Washington.
Over time, the meaning has been muddled by confusion of whose birthday it celebrates and when it is. A presidential historian, Doug Wead, claims that the holiday has lost all meaning because "we don't have that [nostalgia] anymore. Part of that is cynicism about presidents today- Nixon, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Bush... there's less respect."

I agree that the holiday has lost some meaning. We talk about this century's presidents differently than we talk about presidents in the 1800s. Is it because we respect presidents less, or because presidents have become less noble?