Nostalgia is a helluva drug. Powerful enough to induce electoral psychosis, it apparently impairs real memories of war, financial collapse and crippling national debt. Six-in-ten Americans hold a favorable view of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Though the nation continues to struggle with the issues they left behind, the presidents' national images improve the longer they've been away from the Oval Office.

Eight years out Bush sits pretty with a 59 percent favorability rating, according to polling by Gallup. After six months, Obama's numbers are a bit better at 63 percent. All things considered, that's not bad for two presidents who recently whipped their opponents into a frenzy.

When the Great Recession was hitting hardest, Bush reached his low point of 32 percent. And shortly after Democrats lost the Senate to Republicans, Obama fell to 42 percent.

Apparently in retirement, almost all is forgiven though. Now that Bush paints with oils on canvas and Obama hangs out with Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey, voters have shrugged off previous concerns like destabilizing the Mideast and sowing the seeds of destruction for the individual health-insurance market. Luckily for those presidents, the first draft of history seems overwhelmingly favorable.

If it's not absence making voters' hearts grow fonder it may be simple comparison: While President Trump has been mostly hemmed in by a gridlocked Congress and strict Judiciary, his approval ratings have plummeted to around 40 percent.

Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.