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Who the hell ever admired a PositveOptomisticStatesman like Jefferson Davis?

I do. I, like Shelby Foote, find Jefferson Davis to be a kind, warm, and thoughtful person. Clearly the opposite of his enemies views of him. Like most people he had his weak spots. One of the things I like most about him was the fact he was not a politician, he would not log roll. I have spent hours flow charting a histo-novel about his life. It is tentatively called "The President and Mrs. Davis". I hope to shine the light on him as a person, a husband, a father, and a patriot as well as the similarities and differences between him and Lincoln. Not as the reluctant leader of the little nation that hardly had a chance.

First, don't put words in my mouth. I certainly would never describe Davis as positive or optimistic. Fanatical and narrow-minded, perhaps. Certainly the one man most responsible for the death of the confederacy. But that's about it.

Second, if you do your novel about Davis and his wife be sure to include the estrangement between the two that dated from the mid-1860s and lasted until his death.

I, like Shelby Foote, find Jefferson Davis to be a kind, warm, and thoughtful person. Clearly the opposite of his enemies views of him.

Davis did have his kindly, sentimental side, but "warm" isn't a word I'd use to describe him. It may have been a side he showed to friends, but how much of that did the public see? For that matter, how much of a politician's emotional life should the public see?

One of the things I like most about him was the fact he was not a politician, he would not log roll.

Of course Jefferson Davis was very much a political man, if politics is defined as ambition for power and public office. He just didn't like to compromise much.

If you do your novel about Davis and his wife be sure to include the estrangement between the two that dated from the mid-1860s and lasted until his death.

It would be interesting to find out more about that.

In any event it looks to me like Varina's first impression of Jeff was right:

The first encounter did, however, make a memorable impression on her. She wrote her mother soon after their meeting: "I do not know whether this Mr. Jefferson Davis is young or old. He looks both at times; but I believe he is old, for from what I hear he is only two years younger than you are [the rumor was correct]. He impresses me as a remarkable kind of man, but of uncertain temper, and has a way of taking for granted that everybody agrees with him when he expresses an opinion, which offends me; yet he is most agreeable and has a peculiarly sweet voice and a winning manner of asserting himself. The fact is, he is the kind of person I should expect to rescue one from a mad dog at any risk, but to insist upon a stoical indifference to the fright afterward."