I like looking at the monuments not only for who they memorialize but also the what it says about the time and people who put up the monuments. Obviously the Vietnam Memorial expresses a lot about its builders. Even the inclusion of the more heroic, traditional figures demonstrates some of the conflict in the US on how to view the war, and the inclusion of the women's statue perhaps shows what some would say is "political correctness run amok." The WWII Memorial in some ways is a memorial as the people of that generation viewed memorials to be, but it is off on a lot of the symbolism (why venerate states when we fought as a nation? why do you need to do math to understand what the stars represent?). The thing I love about it is the reliefs showing different aspects of the total war. The FDR memorial also says something about the builders. Depicting FDR in a wheelchair when FDR was quite conscious of never showing it has also been seen as PC. That said, it might be my favorite after the Lincoln because of the scope of his presidency and the succinct way the events are demonstrated or described.
Have any of you stood at where the line between the Washington Monument to the Lincoln and the White house to the Jefferson intersect? Big time karma there.
