Full Idea
If there are no non-present objects (according to Presentism), then no one can now stand in any relation to any non-present object. You cannot now 'admire' Socrates, and no present event has a causal relation to Washington crossing the Delaware.
Gist of Idea
Presentism says if objects don't exist now, we can't have attitudes to them or relations with them
Source
Ned Markosian (A Defense of Presentism [2004], 2.2)
Book Reference
'Persistence: contemporary readings', ed/tr. Haslanger,S/|Kurtz,RM [MIT 2006], p.309
A Reaction
You can have an overlapping causal chain that gets you back to Washington, and a causal chain can connect Socrates to our thoughts about him (as in baptismal reference). A simple reply needs an 'overlap' though.