George Bush is worse than you remember--Ranking the presidents--who's overrated and who's underrated?

MSNBC ^ | February 20, 2023 | Michael A. Cohen

[Dilbert San Diego]

As far as presidential historical rankings go, people tend to list negatives about the presidents, and then imply that those negatives balance out and cancel out whatever positive accomplishments that President may have had.

And then the positive achievements depend on your politics. For example people here are talking about President Johnson and The Great Society programs. Liberals love those programs and conservatives detest those programs. So when judging presidential achievements , it depends on your politics as to whether you think those achievements were beneficial or not.

[cowboyusa]

Also, Cleveland, Jefferson and Authur. Worst; Wilson, FDR and Andrew Johnson.

[LibertarianLiz]

arguably more significant than Washington’s (whose greatest presidential act perhaps was relinquishing the job after two terms).

Yeah, George Washington, greatest presidential act is being president for 2 terms and then leaving. No mention of his role in the Revolutionary War. Let's just shrug that off. It's not like there wouldn't have even been a need for top presidents if there hadn't been a Revolutionary War.

[Retain Mike]

Great article to post with a lot of responses.

I will have to disagree that in regard to the Gulf War “His leadership of the Gulf War was masterful.”

Under Bush #1, Iraqi Arabs revolted with United States encouragement to be then abandoned as Hussein’s forces launched a successful campaign murdering tens of thousands for final repression and retribution. Bush #1 made a speech hoping to incite a military coup to topple Hussein by saying, “There is another way for the bloodshed to stop and that is for the Iraqi military and people to take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator to step aside and then comply with the United Nations resolutions and rejoin the family of peace-loving nations”. As former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency he knew that such information should have been transmitted covertly to a selected few.

This probably sealed the fate of a unified Iraqi government because this deception and inaction was so egregious it overcame millennia of animosity between the Semites of Assyria/Iraq and the Caucasians/Aryans of Persia/Iran. The abandonment of the “Swamp Arabs” by Bush #1 in their hour of crisis evoked a deathless memory which crippled subsequent efforts. Had the United States never promoted the open revolt or behaved with integrity when it did sponsor it, then Muqtada al-Sadr would have never had a forum to become one of the most influential religious and political figures in Iraq, despite not holding an official title.

This act of intellectual dwarfism leading to negligent homicide reminds me of the Warsaw Uprising. The Polish Resistance rose at Joseph Stalin’s encouragement as the Red Army closed in on Warsaw. The Soviets broadcast, “For Warsaw, which did not yield but fought on, the hour of action has already arrived. All is lost that is not saved by active effort and by direct active struggle”. The Red army then stopped as the Germans regrouped and demolished the city in the next two months. The Nazis inflicted nearly 200,000 casualties in defeating resistance fighters and slaughtering civilians mainly by mass execution. Therefore Bush #1 accomplished through gross negligence the same result Stalin achieved by malicious intent. In both cases those individuals who could have been vital in the effort to establish a new government were eliminated.