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Thursday, May 31, 2012
Ashley Judd and Dario Franchitti Put Scottish Spread Up for Sale
LOCATION: Port of Menteith, Stirlingshire, Scotland
PRICE: offers in excess of £3,800,000 ($5,918,920)
SIZE: 7+ bedrooms, 7 full and 4 half bathrooms/water closets
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Rakish race car driver Dario Franchitti won his third Indy 500 over the weekend and—thanks to the Scottish Snitch—Your Mama learned over the weekend the Italian-named Scotsman and his American actress wife Ashley Judd recently heaved their 485-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands on the market. The asking price on listing information and marketing materials reads "offers in excess of £3,800,000," an amount that Your Mama's currently conversion contraption shows amounts to 5,918,920 U.S. dollars at today's rates.
We're not really sure how to look up property transaction records in Scotland so Your Mama can't be certain about how much exactly Miz Judd and Mister Franchitti shelled out for their Scottish spread called Rednock House but an October 2010 article in The Sun states the comely and currently child-free couple acquired the "200-year-old ruin" in 2004 for about £1,200,000. They spent, according to the same article, an additional £1,500,000 on an extensive restoration and renovation of the property that includes a massive mansion and nearby stable/garage complex. Your Mama hasn't an iota how The Sun knows how much moolah the Judd-Franchitti spent on renovations, but that's what they said. We have no independent knowledge of such but the article also mentions that Miz Judd and Mister Franchitti beat out English musician Liam Gallagher and American pop music icon Madonna for the purchase of the hulking but elegant (if somewhat dour-looking) Georgian-style pile, semi-remotely located about an hour by car outside of Edinburgh.
Listing information does not indicate square footage of the huge and historic manor house but does reveal it spans four floors with more than 20 rooms and includes 20 (or more) fireplaces, 4 reception rooms (plus a trio of sizable main floor foyers and stair halls), 7+ bedrooms and 7 full and (approximately) 4 half bathrooms.
Marketing materials reveal the baronial residence recently underwent a complete restoration and modernization over the last 5 years that included the removal of two Victorian era wings and the addition of all new electrical wiring and insulation, all new plumbing with on-demand hot water throughout, state-of-the-art fire and intruder alarm systems and all-new heating systems that include radiant heat under the stone floors.
Stone pillars stand on either side of the long, private drive that snakes and swirls through woodlands, along Rednock Burn, over a bridge, across the landscaped parklands to the front of the relatively spare and perfectly symmetrical Georgian front façade. A wide set of stone steps flanked by a pair of rapacious-looking iron eagles climb to a Greek Doric columned portico that rather regally surrounds the front door.
Floor plans (above) included with marketing materials reveal the front door opens into an almost perfectly square entrance hall with ornate plasterwork and Caithness stone slab floors that continue in to a spine straightening, triple-height circular vestibule—called a "saloon" in marketing materials—that climaxes architecturally with a domed roof and cupola.
Stately architraves around Regency doors mark entry in to the primary public rooms that include a grandly proportioned, 41-foot long drawing room with fireplace and original wide-plank pine floors and an equally impressive 30-foot long formal dining room. Both rooms have multiple, 20-pane windows set in deep niches that hug the floor and kiss the particularly high ceiling. The adjoining butler's pantry is conveniently equipped with a dumbwaiter that lifts food from the lower level kitchen and nearby service stairs rise to a small butler's sitting room (with fireplace) and descend to the less-formal lower level living quarters.
The Caithness stone slab floors continue into the oldest section of the residence where the main stair hall has a cantilevered stone staircase believed to date to the 17th century. There's a large library (with fireplace) on one side, a slightly smaller study (also with fireplace) on the other and a roomy cloakroom—a.k.a. a powder pooper— outfitted with an original, Victorian era Thomas Crapper "Thunderbox."
The lower ground floor, accessible from the main stair hall as well as the service stairs located in a curved corridor just outside the butler's pantry, hosts the humongous house's informal family quarters that orbit around a circular circulation hall with an 18-foot diameter. A completely modernized, center island kitchen with white Shaker-style cabinetry and butcher block counter tops opens to a family room with fireplace and direct access to the garden through a separate vestibule.
Also downstairs is bedroom-sized wine cellar with vaulted ceiling, a living room size gym (with fireplace), large laundry room and, at the rear of the house, a bedroom with attached bathroom suitable for a live-in domestic as well as a couple of generous storage/service areas.
Did y'all just hear the screeching brakes in Your Mama's head too? We're down and dope with this house—the day-core, on the other hand, is depressingly wan—but did anyone else notice the journey hot food must go to get from the kitchen to the upstairs dining room? In case you missed it let Your Mama recap it for any of y'all who don't read or speak floor plan. Once food leaves the kitchen it must traverse a corner of the family room, cross the 18-foot diameter circular vestibule, enter the gym—gasps heard 'round the globe—and either hike up the stairs to the corridor just outside the dining room or pass through to the laundry room in where the dumb waiter lifts dinner (or whatever) to the butler's pantry above at the simple press of a button or flick of the switch (or whatever).
About half of the first floor—us Americanos call it the second floor—is given over to three guest/family bedrooms that open off the main stair hall and circular gallery. Each is well-sized and self-contained with a fireplace, walk-in wardrobe and en suite facility. The remainder of the second floor is devoted to an expansive, celebrity-style master suite. In addition to the cavernous, 500-plus square foot bedroom there's a substantial and quite contemporary bathroom with jetted tub for two with rare blue marble surround, a separate glass-enclosed steam shower and a not-particularly-private, all-glass enclosure for the crapper and the bidet. Your Mama can only wish upon a prayer that the glass that wraps the crapper cubby is the space age-y sort of stuff that goes opaque at the flip of a switch or press of a button (or whatever). There are also two, enviably spacious dressing rooms, both bigger than Your Mama's entire master suite and both with fireplaces and over-sized windows. the "his" dressing room has bespoke walnut cabinetry and the "hers" dressing room is custom-fitted with maple cabinetry and has its very own washer and dryer.
The top floor, much of which is tucked up under the eaves and most of which was once-upon-a-time probably used as staff quarters, contains two big-enough bedrooms with fireplaces and en suite facilities, various storage closets, and two more commodious rooms, both with fireplaces and flexible possible utilities. According to the floor plan there are a couple of water closets up there as well.
Outbuildings include a fully renovated and insulated quadrangular complex with stabling for horses, garaging for 10 (or more) cars, various workshops, an office, and what listing information calls a "party room" with separate kitchen, sitting room and bathroom. A nearby stone cottage with 3-4 bedrooms is in need of a redo according to listing information and would probably make a sweet guest house, caretaker's residence or someplace a hunky horse trainer could bed down at night after a day spent working with the resident steeds and stallions.
Also included in the sale, according to marketing materials is Grahamston Farm, an adjoining situation with a refurbished 4 bedroom and 2 bathroom farm house plus additional farm buildings.
Miz Judd and Mister Franchitti also maintain a residence stateside. Their multi-acre rural spread with its restored and expanded, 19th century house in Franklin, TN abuts her mother Naomi's much larger farm and connects over a wooded mountain to her country queen sister Wynona's mansion.
listing photos and floor plan: Knight Frank
36 comments:
Love the restoration but would prefer more period chandeliers, wall fabrics instead of Pottery Barnish decor... Easy enough to fix with the right decorator.
Is that a glassed in "pooper" in the Master Bedroom? Oh Lordy! - May 31, 2012 at 11:48 AM
caught that "food journey" from the kitchen right away....what a pain!
the amount of servants to run a place like this would be a problem...
this is Scotland, not Beverly Hills.
who would WANT to live there? visit yes, live NO.
the interiors are nothing like what I would have thought ....
and that glassed in pooper....
nightmares - May 31, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Very magnificent. Big enough for a duke, I would think. But not so big one has to open up part of it for paid tours. British country home exteriors are not meant to dazzle the eye with color, only with proportion. I also like the subdued, understated decor. I'd move there in a jiffy if I could.
- May 31, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Um, I think there may be a disconnect between Ms. Judd's supposed values and her reality.
According to her, she drives a Mini Cooper and won't use a real oven - to conserve energy, she uses a toaster oven.
And, when she came back from hugging orphans and prostitutes in Africa, apparently she wandered around her house in Tennessee counting faucets and feeling guilty about that, and the fact that her housekeeper had bought her some plastic containers for the kitchen. Because, you know, orphans and prostitutes in Africa don't have running water or Tupperware. She said she was suffering from PTSD and had to go to therapy to get over it.
This was apparently such a life-changing experience for her that when she went to Indy for the 500, after she did the laundry in the washer that is built in to the ginormous gas-guzzling luxury bus that she and the hubby live in during Indy week, she couldn't bring herself to use the dryer. So she draped all the wet clothes over chairs outside the bus.
And she owns a huge castle in Scotland with a washer-dryer built in to her huge private closet.
What planet is this narcissistic deluded pretentious washed-up B-list actress living on? - May 31, 2012 at 12:55 PM
- Shopgirl said...
I think it's beautiful. Nice clean canvas that the new owners can work from. Anyone spending that kind of money will surely have a few extra pounds to decorate.
- May 31, 2012 at 1:08 PM
You are so right anonymous! Plus they take private jets to races as well.
She is also unpleasant in person. I was at a race in Portland Oregon that she was at. She had a rental car so she could drive from the motor bus to where ever she had to go. There was another little go cart race going on so she couldn't cross the track. She was yelling at the guy who told her no. She got back into the car and back up angrily like a mad woman and almost struck a small child. Everyone standing around couldn't believe her horrible attitude.
She is just awful. - May 31, 2012 at 1:40 PM
- Janey said...
Now that is some stunning real estate! I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that it is owned by Ashley Judd. I sure wouldn't mind having a beautiful place like that in Scotland. I have to admit that the glassed in bathroom is interesting, but I'd still live with that if I got the rest of the house. I might have just missed this, but how large is the rest of the estate?
- May 31, 2012 at 1:41 PM
12:55 Right On!! You threaded the needle with this. Its like Oprah talking about simplifying life and how we should all cut back on natural resources and honor the universe or whatever BS she spews, whilst she flys in a Gulfstream amongst her multiple estates.
- May 31, 2012 at 2:49 PM
Re: food journey from kitchen to table: Dumb Waiter. It may not show on the plans, but you can be sure it's there.
- May 31, 2012 at 3:56 PM
Thank you for presenting to the Children a most architecturally significant estate! One might surmise that an earlier ktchen was adjacent to the lower ground floor laundry. This logical arrangement would have facilitated a far less onerous food transport for ever the hardworking Svetlana. Additionally, the lower ground floor gym was most probably the original breakfast room. Finally, Mama, in private correspondence didn't you lovingly refer to dear Fiona Trambeau, may she celebrate many more birthdays, by your pet name for her, "Thunderbox?" Heavens, has the Rabbi committed a breach of confidence?
Yours in Moses,
Scottish Grand Rabbi Hedda MacTess - May 31, 2012 at 4:18 PM
12:55 pm. Thanks for your sweet portrayal. I bet your live somewhere a lot nicer than this. And are oh so much more sensible in all respects.
- May 31, 2012 at 4:26 PM
As for being "washed up" I note that her two most recent movies, Flypaper and Dolphin Tale, got very different reactions. Flypaper got a low tomato reading from Rotten Tomatoes while Dolphin Tale got a very high one: 83% from the critics and almost as high from the public. That doesn't seem "washed up" to me.
- May 31, 2012 at 4:35 PM
This one does it for me in a big way. So much so that now I need some private time. Living in Scotland would be fine by me in a house like this. Not everyone wants to shake and bake in sunny climes. This place and a volume of A.E. Housman would fill the bill for me.
- May 31, 2012 at 9:06 PM
Rednock House
Were this property owned by a NASCAR driver, it would be known as Redneck House. - May 31, 2012 at 9:48 PM
" ... this is Scotland, not Beverly Hills.
who would WANT to live there? visit yes, live NO."
I can't actually think of anything worse than living in Beverly Hills. - June 1, 2012 at 12:06 AM
- Unknown said...
Ya know,
This house is not particularly big by stately home standards. It's definitely not a ducal pile (Chatsworth and others of that ilk are far, far larger. It looks like it was built to be the home of a minor gentry family. It's even too modest to have been the home of a proper lord.
As for the kitchen - dining room placement, it's left over from the days of servants. Many large houses in Britain on this scale and even bigger still have long distances between the two rooms. Most families with such houses will only use their dining room a few times a year and spend the rest of the time in a room off the kitchen or in the kitchen itself.
As for the interiors, it is a wee bit sterile but Scotland is a dark country and the light interiors would be refreshing on a dark, dreary rainy day. - June 1, 2012 at 1:38 AM
Anonymous 12:55 PM must be Wynonna. You're pretty too Wynonna now go have a twinkie.
- June 1, 2012 at 5:52 AM
If I win the lotto tonight I'm on the phone to the estate agents first thing!
- June 1, 2012 at 11:14 AM
"How much for the Sarouk rugs"?
*** - June 1, 2012 at 1:37 PM
my comment about beverly hills, concerned the servants. easier to get someone to fetch and clean there, than in Scotland. (I would think)
and concerning the kitchen/dumbwaiter debate. I would think so, but then you would have to have someone actually cooking in the kitchen to put the food out on the dumbwaiter....again the servant issue. - June 1, 2012 at 7:04 PM
2:49 get off Oprah's nuts. What did she fire you from your job as her maid or something. You have issues, seek mental help.
- June 2, 2012 at 4:37 AM
Geewillikers, Momma, that's the most elegant house you've ever posted on here. The rotunda, cascading through two (or is it three?) levels . . . be still my heart.
- June 2, 2012 at 3:14 PM
You had me at A.E. Housman. Let's move there together :-) - June 4, 2012 at 8:23 PM
May 31 4:25 pm, OK, let's talk about her film career. The highest grossing, best-reviewed films she's been in, she was a supporting player at best, and for the most part that was in the mid-to-late 1990's. She headlined a few potboiler FBI thriller type movies around then too, and granted, those were modest hits. Then in 2004 she starred in Twisted, which was the worst-reviewed film in all of 2004, with a rottentomatoes.com rating of 2% - 133 out of 135 critics panned it.
As for "Flypaper," it showed on exactly two screens and grossed a whopping $1,100 in theatrical release before disappearing.
Dolphin Tale? It was an ensemble cast and the kid and the dolphin were the true stars. She played one of those 40-something mother roles that a gazillion other actresses could have played as well or better. I can't think of a single film she has been in, where you think "Only Ashley Judd could play that role" - in fact, they would have been as good or better if another actress had played her part.
Now she's back on TV - oh wait, no she isn't. Her latest series was canceled after 10 episodes.
She was quoted in a magazine interview in 2005 talking about how she got seated at the wrong table at some Hollywood banquet, and when she was "rescued" and relocated to a table with other "stars" she said that she had been restored to her "place in the pantheon." As in the temple to the GODS?
She's not just a washed-up B-list actress, she's a washed-up B-list actress with delusions of grandeur - the worst kind of narcissist! - June 4, 2012 at 8:41 PM
May not seem like much, but they out-bid Madonna for it.
I checked further on: Rednock House/Scotland - quite the estate. Beautiful landscape - but why are you calling it historic? Could it just be old? - June 5, 2012 at 10:09 AM
Funny, I have never read a story where somebody said they met Ashley Judd in person and thought she was nice - but I've read tons of stories about what a beyotch she is. Like, on movie sets she would hand people "mute stones" and they wouldn't be allowed to talk to her until she took them back. Or how she wouldn't go to Cambodia for the charity she does work for unless they bought her a first-class ticket. Some poor non-profit had to shell out $25,000 round trip for her to fly first class. That would feed a lot of orphans in Africa!
And, without having met her, there's tons of evidence in her own words of what a huge ego she has. For example, she addressed the National Press Club, I think it was, and as anybody does when they're about to give a speech, she said "Hello ladies and gentleman" or something like that. Which in these circumstances is just a standard opener, nobody says hello back. But Miss Thang was upset that the audience didn't respond. So she informed them in a smug schoolmarm tone that she was a southern girl, and where she came from if people say hello to you, you're supposed to say hello back. Then she actually said, "Take Two. H-E-L-L-O everybody..." then paused and glared at the audience who, like good little boys and girls, all chanted "Hello." Grown men and women!
And then there was her appearance on Craig Ferguson where she managed to mention in the first 30 seconds that her book was on the NYT bestseller list (while pretending to be modest and saying in the next sentence that she doesn't pay attention to these things, she just worries about doing the "next good right thing")... and I just love how she namedrops Harvard all the time and talks about "graduate school" and "my alma mater" (and she's not referring to the University of Kentucky). It's beyond pretentious. My ex-boyfriend - no rocket scientist - got the same degree at Harvard that she did - a Mid-Career Master of Public Administration (MC MPA). It's a one-year degree with a 50% admission rate, the easiest program at Harvard to get into, basically a way for rich people to buy themselves a vanity degree from Harvard. My friends and I with *real* Ivy League degrees call it Harvard Lite. Not to be confused with the two year MPA which is a much more rigorous program with a 20% admission rate.
And you gotta listen to her on some radio game show on NPR while she was doing her 9 months at Harvard. Within the first minute she manages to mention that she addressed the UN, and it's SOOO obvious she's bragging but she thinks she's being all subtle bringing it up, she says "I feel more nervous about being on your show than when I addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations." Gah, could she be any more obvious about shoehorning her resume into a completely unrelated context? She was on the radio show to answer three multiple choice current events questions, and on the first one she turned to her "cohort" in the audience (fellow students she had dragged along for moral support) and asked them what they thought. They indicated the correct answer, at which point the host actually called her out for cheating. Mind you, he had been kissing her A$$ and flattering her up to that point, but even he had to draw the line somewhere I guess! So then she picked the correct answer and says "Because I was leaning that way anyway."
And what I also loathe about her is how she thrusts herself into the forefront at Indy races. When her husband won the Indy 500 last week she posed with the trophy and the winner's wreath around her neck. Then she tweeted a photo of herself chugging the winner's bottle of milk. Really inappropriate. - June 5, 2012 at 6:37 PM
- Helen said...
A glassed-in loo, really? You can consult Scottish property records at www.ros.gov.uk
- June 6, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Lovely possibilities for the Scottish pile. Zero possibilities for the Judd woman.
- June 7, 2012 at 12:19 PM
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/map/port-of-menteith/?sold_price_types=all&sold_price_years=7&so=date&sd=desc - June 12, 2012 at 6:11 PM
- Unknown said...
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- November 11, 2012 at 9:31 PM
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- December 20, 2012 at 11:10 AM
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- Claudio Timber said...
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- January 26, 2013 at 4:02 AM
I googled Rednock House, looks like it has been removed from the realty listings. Do you know if it has been sold?
- January 31, 2013 at 2:33 PM
A little birdie told me that the house is off the market because Dario is keeping it.
Apparently Dario paid the lion's share of the money for the purchase and renovations. Ashley only put in $250,000. But Dario is giving her half the value - too generous by far if you ask me! - July 16, 2013 at 4:43 PM
PS I should add for those of you who don't know, they are getting divorced.
- July 16, 2013 at 4:45 PM


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This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin. Ukraine celebrates Easter today as a divided country. Last week, world leaders met in Geneva to try to tamp down the crisis and end the occupation of government buildings by pro-Russian militants. So far, nothing has happened. Hoping the holiday will calm tensions, Ukraine's interim defense minister called an Easter truce. But despite their common faith, many feel the divide between Ukrainians in the east and west may be too large to heal. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley sent this story from eastern Ukraine.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: We're heading across Donetsk at 5 in the morning, to attend an Easter service. And the tradition here is that you come really, really early. My Ukrainian translator, Zhenia Afanasiev, has invited me to go to Easter services with him.
ZHENIA AFANASIEV: People come early because they want to be blessed, you know, as soon as possible; to be first. And usually, they bring Easter cake; boiled, paint eggs; and sweet, red wine, which is called Kagor, which is actually symbolizes the blood of Jesus.
BEARDSLEY: Zhenia carries his goods in a bag because he doesn't have an Easter basket. As we walk through the empty streets, the first light peeks over the city. Zhenia tells me a little about Donetsk history. We pass a massive statue of Lenin. A few years ago, fans of the local soccer team tried to blow it up, he says. But since then, a hard-core group of Lenin supporters has permanently camped out in tents at the site, to protect it. And there's the World War II tank on a pedestal.
What happened here in World War II? Was there a lot of fighting? Germans were here?
AFANASIEV: Yes, yes. Germans were here. They occupied this region because this was one of the most important strategical regions in the Ukraine because it's rich for coal, you know, and metals. So it was really hard for Soviet Army to get it back. We had a lot of violent fightings here.
BEARDSLEY: That could help explain why people here are so afraid of what they believe is a new fascism on the rise in the west of the country. As we approach the church, the bells grow louder. Hundreds of people are arriving. The women all wear headscarves. There is no Easter bunny or Easter egg hunts in Ukraine, but everyone carries an Easter basket. People file inside the church to kiss an icon of Christ before heading outside again. This same ritual is being practiced all over Ukraine, making it the first time the country has been united in a long time.
Outside, hundreds of people gather in a giant circle around the church, baskets at their feet, candles in their hands, waiting to be blessed by the priest. Swinging a holy water flail known in English as an aspergilium, a chanting priest and his acolyte make their way around the circle. I get a big splash right across the face. Afterwards, Tanya Matvienko and Irina Romanets show their recently blessed baskets revealing eggs, cake and wine; but also ham, cheese, bread and salt. Everything comes from the soul, they say.
IRINA ROMANETS: (Through translator) If you salt with this kind of salt, it will make you better.
BEARDSLEY: Seventy-six-year-old Svetlana Volvenko says she'll go home to enjoy breakfast and the holiday with her family. But with separatists occupying a building just blocks from here, the tensions and divisions of this country are on everyone's mind. We are praying for peace, she says.
SVETLANA VOLVENKO: (Speaking foreign language)
AFANASIEV: (Translating) It hurts so much, and it's very difficult. We are worrying about it.
BEARDSLEY: Translator Zhenia is also pessimistic about the situation.
AFANASIEV: Yeah, I really think that the crisis is so deep, this holiday cannot, you know, unite the country.
BEARDSLEY: But let's go home and eat some cake and drink some wine, he says. Eleanor Beardsley. NPR News, Donetsk. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Kotla Nonche is a very tasty and easy to prepare pickle.Basically it is made with cut pieces of raw mango and cauliflower,but we added chopped carrots and tendle[tindora] into it.For one who doesn't fancy pickles so much,this one gets over in our place with a swift pace.We love it for the crispy and crunchy vegetables in it..:).
Kotla Nonche ~ Mixed Vegetable Pickle
Recipe source Ma-in-law,prepared by amma..:)
Cauliflower – 1,small-cut into small florets
Tindora – 4-5,chopped
Carrots – 2,chopped
Lime – 5-6
Ginger – 2' piece
Green chilly – 1,chopped
For the masala
Red chilly – 200 gms
We used a mix of Kashmiri chillies and regular red chillies.If you are using only one variety,adjust the amount to control the heat.
Mustard seeds – 1 tbsp
Hing/Asafoetida – 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Adding salt to the pickle is a tricky job.A generous amount has to be added since salt helps to control the heat as well as acts as a preservative.So though it may seem much,let me give you an approximate amount.Start by adding ¼ cup of salt and then add more if necessary.
Water – to grind the masala
Juice the limes and then chop into small pieces.
Chop green chilly and ginger into small pieces.
In a mixer,add the red chillies and pulse for a while till they become powdery.
Add the mustard,salt and hing and add enough water to grind.
Pulse till it becomes a smooth paste[it should not be grainy]
In a big mixing bowl,add the chopped vegetables along with the green chilly,lime and ginger pieces.
Add the ground paste to the vegetables and mix well.
Mix in the lime juice and more water[only if required].
Do a taste test and check if it requires more salt,hing or lime juice.
Keep it covered overnight or at least for 5-6 hours for the flavors to seep in.
Pour into sterilized jars and keep refrigerated for longer shelf life.


text:
You are Barack Obama and you find yourself hacking away in the weeds of sequestration -- and some frustration. What's going on?
After all, you won a second term as President of the United States. You withstood the hooks and slices of a nasty campaign. Your approval rating is on the rise. Over Presidents Day weekend you played golf with Tiger Woods. For an American politician, it probably doesn't get any better than this.
So as you negotiate your way through the back nine of your tenure - moving from sequestration to the shaky economy to health care to immigration, gun violence and beyond -- what other possible sandtraps should you be wary of?
Some will be unavoidable."Many second term presidents have found their agendas affected by events out of their control," says presidential historian Thomas Schwartz of Vanderbilt University.
More obvious hazards, however, can be foreseen - and avoided. Ennui, for instance. "Boredom is something that can bedevil even the most successful leaders," says California-based career coach Rachelle J. Canter, author of Make the Right Career Move. "People who are energized by doing the seemingly impossible, overcoming enormous odds, or testing themselves against new challenges -- which likely defines most presidents, including President Obama -- should beware of ... boredom."
So before you get too far into Term Two, maybe you should pause, take a few practice swings, and consider some potential pitfalls:
1) Boredom. Boredom breeds complacency, says Canter. And "complacency is a performance killer. High achievement is stimulated by interest, incentive, excitement." Complacency results in "low or indifferent performance."
2) Overconfidence. "Obama may be buoyed by his polls, which show his public approval rating has inched up since his reelection, his battles with House Republicans over taxes, and his efforts to reduce gun violence since the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.," writes Kathleen Hennessey in the Los Angeles Times. "Still, historians say overconfidence can quickly turn the second-term blessing [the fact that a twice-victorious president no longer has to justify his actions] into the presidential curse." Sometimes, the story points out, this self-satisfaction can lead to hubris and overreaching.
3) Inattentiveness. Second term Presidents "are very focused on their legacy to the country," says Elaine C. Kamarck, Director of the Management and Leadership Initiative at the Brookings Institution. "This is both good and bad. It can mean that they push forward bold and important ideas. It can also mean, however, that they allow themselves to get diverted from the problems the voters thought they were electing them to solve."
In Obama's first term, Kamarck says, the president "took his eye off the ball by thinking that they had done enough for the recession and that they could move on to health care. He has a big second term agenda. But if he underestimates the continuing pain people are feeling from this recession he will lose political capital and put his legacy at risk."
4) Inaction. Dwight Eisenhower, says Schwartz, "was quite active in his first term, ending the Korean War, proposing the interstate highway system, calming the country down from McCarthyism."
But in his second term, Schwartz says, Eisenhower seemed "Inactive" to many political observers "because he didn't panic when the Sputnik craze led people to think we should double our defense spending or plan a huge space program."
Democrats at the time depicted Eisenhower "as an old fogey who liked playing golf and taking naps," Schwartz says. "They really didn't appreciate his style of leadership, and this initially had an effect on the perception of his legacy."
Schwartz adds, "What's interesting is that the Obama people have embraced Eisenhower, in part because he reduced defense spending and seemed to call for a more restrained American presence in the world. But the Eisenhower approach was not something most progressive Democrats of the time would have found appealing."
Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit www.npr.org.