John Adams boned himself as a President; otherwise, he would have been as highly remembered and regarded as his cousin, Samuel Adams. John Adams was far too much the political animal.
As Reagan said, most anything is doable if you don't care who gets credit for it. But not getting the credit leaves you with less stature and clout to make things happen in the future. Adams did things for this country that we should all be grateful for everyday. He may have been tortured by not getting the credit, but he was such a big man, that he knowingly put himself through that torture in order that this country would be born and thrive. He was the second President of a newly formed nation, with horrible financial problems, no great sense of oneness, issues of great division and to boot he was standing in the just vacated shoes of one of the greatest Americans, if not The Greatest American to ever draw breath. He held it together. That alone was a major accomplishment. And he had the burden of not being generally recognized as a great man like Washington and Jefferson. His early sacrifices cost him later during his presidency, but we are all for the better that he made them.
John Adams had a chip on his shoulder and was highly resentful of anyone who appeared to be more successful than him. His rather bitter personality meant that he would never enjoy the personal adulation or respect of the other founders. I would have rather spent time with Newark’s own Aaron Burr at his Harlem estate than a minute with John Adams.