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5 Worst U.S. Presidents of All Time
http://nationalinterest.org ^ | November 5, 2014 | Robert W. Merry

Posted on 11/06/2014 6:14:02 AM PST by NKP_Vet

In the spring of 2006, midway through George W. Bush’s second presidential term, Princeton historian Sean Wilentz published a piece in Rolling Stone that posed a provocative question: Was Bush the worst president ever? He said the best-case scenario for Bush was "colossal historical disgrace’’ and added: "Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history."

The Wilentz assessment was probably a bit premature. It is difficult to judge any president’s historical standing while he still sits in the Oval Office, when political passions of the day are swirling around him with such intensity. And yet the Founding Fathers, in creating our system of government, invited all of us to assess our elected leaders on an ongoing basis, and so interim judgments are fair game, however harsh or favorable.

Which raises a question for today: How will Barack Obama be viewed in history? Will he be among the greats? Or will he fall into the category of faltering failures?

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: academicbias; bushhasser; bushlegacy; naughtyteacherslist; revisionisthistory; stalinisttactics
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To: VanDeKoik

David Rice Atchison: the President who never made any mistakes.


21 posted on 11/06/2014 6:48:01 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Charles Henrickson

Good list!

1. Obama
2. Johnson
3. Carter
4. Roosevelt
5. Wilson

Although Buchanan sitting on his hands caused more American bloodshed than any other....


22 posted on 11/06/2014 6:48:03 AM PST by Roman_War_Criminal
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To: Verginius Rufus

Wasn’t he sleeping for most of his term?


23 posted on 11/06/2014 6:52:27 AM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (Liberals make unrealistic demands on reality and reality doesn't oblige them.)
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To: NKP_Vet

Why doesn’t Harding make anyone’s list?


24 posted on 11/06/2014 6:54:05 AM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (Liberals make unrealistic demands on reality and reality doesn't oblige them.)
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To: Robert DeLong

Carter gave up the Panama Canal, helped oust the Shah of Iran who was replaced by the Ayatollah and pardoned all the Vietnam draft dodgers, deserters and traitors.


25 posted on 11/06/2014 6:59:43 AM PST by catman67
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To: absolootezer0; Robert DeLong
carter didn’t do any permanant damage.

I couldn't disagree more.

The Shah of Iran was the most loyal ally America ever had in the Middle East with the possible exception of Israel. Carter turned his back on the Shah and allowed Khomeini and the Islamofascists to take over Iran. This was the start of Hezbollah and all of the other anti-American jihadist groups.

When Ambassador William Sullivan sent Carter the "Thinking the Unthinkable" telegram in early November, 1978, a chain of events was set in motion where the United States systematically betrayed the Shah and paved the way for Khomeini to take power. We are still paying the price for this today.

26 posted on 11/06/2014 7:00:20 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: NKP_Vet

obama, hussein, obola, the usurper and soretoro.


27 posted on 11/06/2014 7:00:48 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: Charles Henrickson

You forgot Jimmy Carter


28 posted on 11/06/2014 7:02:14 AM PST by luckystarmom
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To: Hillarys Gate Cult
Why doesn’t Harding make anyone’s list?

Harding was personally incompetent and hugely corrupt, but during his administration the fedgov was so much weaker that the potential for damage to the country as a whole was much worse.

29 posted on 11/06/2014 7:02:36 AM PST by Eric Pode of Croydon
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To: NKP_Vet

Worst Presidents
1. Obama
2. Carter
3. Wilson
4. LBJ
5. Clinton

6. Nixon
7. Ford
8. Buchanan
9. FDR
10. Andrew Johnson


30 posted on 11/06/2014 7:03:12 AM PST by kidd
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To: absolootezer0

Carter is responsible for Iran!


31 posted on 11/06/2014 7:03:13 AM PST by luckystarmom
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To: Charles Henrickson

1.Barack HUSSEIN Obama
2.Jimmah Carter
3.LBJ
4.FDR
5.Wilson

All with a “D” after their names. (I don’t know much about Buchanan. I’ll look him up.)


32 posted on 11/06/2014 7:04:07 AM PST by left that other site (You shall know the Truth, and The Truth Shall Set You Free.)
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To: NKP_Vet
I still have to rank Wilson ahead of Obama. The US entry into World War I set off a chain of worldwide screwupery from which we are still suffering a century later. We don't yet know whether Obama's legacy will be as long lasting. God, I hope not.

1 Wilson
2 Obama
3 FDR
4 Buchanan
5 LBJ

Special award for wasted potential - Nixon

33 posted on 11/06/2014 7:08:26 AM PST by Eric Pode of Croydon
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To: luckystarmom
You forgot Jimmy Carter

Nope. I just don't think as an ineffectual one-termer Carter did enough active damage to outrank Obama, L. Johnson, F. Roosevelt, and Wilson. And while Buchanan also was a passive one-termer, his failure led to the Civil War. Carter's failure paved the way to . . . Ronald Reagan!

34 posted on 11/06/2014 7:08:53 AM PST by Charles Henrickson (The five worst.)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

Oops, I of course meant “potential for damage to the country as a whole was much less.” Hey Jim, how much would I have to donate to get an edit capability here??


35 posted on 11/06/2014 7:10:00 AM PST by Eric Pode of Croydon
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon
I think that Harding gets a pass because he died in office, much like Kennedy gets a pass for being assassinated.

Coolidge was able to very publically repair the damage done by the Harding administration malfeasance, so successfully that a Republican was again elected in 1928 (Hoover). If Coolidge had run for a second term, the Depression would have followed a markedly different path and Roosevelt would have never been elected President.

Johnson, on the other hand, came in after Kennedy and made things MUCH WORSE!

36 posted on 11/06/2014 7:16:56 AM PST by catman67
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To: NKP_Vet

Barack Obama
Barry Soetoro
Steve Dunham
Jean Paul Ludwig
Harrison J. Bounel


37 posted on 11/06/2014 7:18:25 AM PST by Fresh Wind (2014: The FUBO Election)
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To: absolootezer0

Iran seems pretty permanent to me at this stage but who knows maybe things will turn there someday too.


38 posted on 11/06/2014 7:23:55 AM PST by xp38
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To: catman67

Yep those are all true too. The first election I participated in was electing Reagan. Before that I was apolitical. Carter changed that. Perhaps his greatest achievement was bringing the apolitical types like myself into the process. LOL


39 posted on 11/06/2014 7:25:58 AM PST by Robert DeLong (u)
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To: wagglebee
Carter didn't totally turn his back on the Shah as he allowed him to come to America and refused to turn him over to the Islamist radicals that took control. However, he lifted not a finger to help him remain in power of Iran.

That being said you made a great and valid argument.

He still remains #2 as worst Presidents in my book, but by the smallest of margins imaginable. Had he been reelected he may have indeed succeeded in garnering the #1 spot.

40 posted on 11/06/2014 7:34:38 AM PST by Robert DeLong (u)
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