The worst president ever?

The Metro West Daily News ^ | Sunday, December 4, 2005 | Richard Reeves

[Torie]

I agree a question that compares Bush to somebody else cloulds the matter, because one needs to know the level of esteem or lack thereof of the guy Bush is the worst since. In any event, I weigh presidents by how much they made a difference for good or bad. Someone like Harding didn't make much difference at all, so he can hardly make the bottom quartile for me. It is also difficult to compare modern presidents to one's pre Roosevelt (take your pick which one), since the job is so different.

[television is just wrong]

Jimmy Carter, the man is the WORST. He received the NObel peace prize as a slap in the face to the US. The man just keeps reinventing himself as a humanitarian, which is a joke.

[x]

You're right, it isn't the same job it was in the days of Tyler and Harrison. Our earliest presidents, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and maybe Madison did have a tougher job than the late 19th century presidents, though. It wasn't clear what the presidency or the Constitution or the country was to be in those first days, and the nation was caught up in many foreign entanglements -- wars, revolutions, and ideological conflicts.

Of course Washington, Adams, and Jefferson didn't have a massive bureaucracy, billion dollar government programs, and world power, but what they faced was more demanding than what Van Buren or Hayes went through.

Our post-Cold War presidents are also going to be hard to assess. I doubt Bill Clinton had any special expertise at dealing with inflation, unemployment, or budget deficits. It's just that he was lucky enough to be around at a time when such things weren't as troublesome as they were earlier. While he does get some credit, you have to take the times into account.

Clinton spent so much time wishing that he could be "challenged" or "tested" as other Presidents were. Part of his luck -- and ours -- is that he didn't get the opportunity, though in retrospect Bin Laden and his group indicate one real and serious test that Clinton took and failed.

Bush has also had some luck. He did make mistakes in Iraq and elsewhere. But the historians on the survey assume that this makes him as bad as Johnson or Carter or worse. Conditions are different now, though. Without a draft a foreign war is less likely to tear the country apart, and we don't have to worry about the Soviets exploiting our mistakes. So the country is in better shape than it was in 1968 or 1980.

We'll have to wait to see how things develop in the Middle East, but the parallel could be to Truman. In retrospect Korea looks like a successful example of containment, but it was a real mess in the 1950s and the consensus was that Truman had seriously bungled. Madison likewise led the country unprepared into war -- in his case a "war of choice." So far, the results today have been a lot better than they were in 1812-1815.

These popularity polls allow historians to chat about their field without getting serious. The real history starts when one has to look at the actual consequences of historical actions, rather than cheer on this ideology or that, and it will be some time before we get perspective on the Bush presidency.

[samm1148]

I thought I was done with you but: You never answered my points. The WPA and CCC were both programs paid for by the taxpayers. That is welfare. I merely suggested you read a book and you replied with insults. Roosevelt did not start SSI, I never said that but you know that. SSI and the socialist program social security are two different things. FDR started Social Security idiot, go read up on it--it is a fact. Morons such as yourself use other issues to hide behind. I can't stand for that. You are a lying, narrow-minded democratic propagandist. You are dismissed.

[RexBeach]

Good one! Didn't know that!

[texasbluebell]

I always mentally file away those little genealogy tidbits!

[texasbluebell]

Btw, your tagline is one of my favorite quotes!

[LilDarlin]

In my lifetime, Carter certainly ranks as the worst; in history, I would opine Buchanan or maybe Harding.

You may ask why clintoon didn't make my rankings???

I never considered that thing a president, so I cannot provide a rank.

[kajingawd]

Kennedy is in the top 2

[RexBeach]

"Bogie" was the man.

[pawdoggie]

The list of criticism sounds like Democrat talking points, and

True! Of all the listed criticisms by the "historians", the only one that didn't reflect a pure Left-Wing mind-set was the "failed to bring military contractors under control" complaint (without regard to the accuracy of the complaint, of course). Then again, the worst President when it came to allowing contractors to run rough-shod over the troops was Lincoln, who generally shows up at the top of "Best Presidents" lists.

[texasbluebell]

Yep, he sure was.

Here's the full quote, at least as I've seen it:

""The trouble with the world is that everybody in it is three drinks behind." (Bogart)

(He had a good point.)