Posted on 02/20/2023 9:16:26 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
The American presidency is one of the strangest jobs in the world.
Politicians aspire to it. The media focuses obsessively on the person who holds it and those who want to win it. Millions of books and articles have been written about it. And yet, most of the people who’ve held the job really weren’t that good.
There are a few truly great presidents, some pretty good ones and a handful of complete disasters. But most can be summed up, as the Simpsons famously once did, as the “adequate, forgettable, occasionally regrettable, caretaker presidents of the U.S.A.”
In fairness, the presidency radically changed in the 20th century, especially as the United States became a global power, so it’s a bit hard to compare the earlier commanders in chief to the modern ones. And despite the many mediocrities, ranking the presidents is a popular pastime, one I’ve dabbled in myself. So let’s ask a slightly different question: Who are the most overrated and underrated holders of the most thankless job in American politics?
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
Back during W’s time in office, he received a lot of support here on FR. It was disappointing he seldom defended himself, or his supporters, from scurrilous accusations from the Democrats and their media.
I always had the feeling that he had my "kids'" best interest when they were on active duty.
He lost much of my support when I realized that he was weak on border security, that being my personal biggest issue.
And, he never supported DJT's presidency much. I know that DJT insulted Jeb a lot, that is the most likely reason.
Looking back I think it was more I used to believe there was a difference between the two parties, and I could never agree with anything a Democrat says.
Now I know better, there is no difference.
The Patriot Act was the worst assault on America since Pearl Harbor!
After he won a second term, he made a sharp left turn, politically.
Recall in the 2006 election he lost the House and bragged ‘now I have a Congress I can work with.’
He decried that Congress never passed an amnesty bill for him, even though he and his friends across the aisle tried. Three times in his 2nd term, IIRC. He almost got on his first term, but Senator Byrd (yeah, a Democrat) stopped it.
And two endless wars due to changed rules of engagement.
911 was an attack on the United States and its allies by surrogates and allies of Russia... just a continuation of what had been going on in the Middle East, South Asia and Africa since 1979.
Invasion of Iraq was the 2nd worst foreign policy blunder after Vietnam. It completely destabilized the middle-east, ISIS was born and is as big as ever, today.
No. 911 was response by AL Qaeda for presence of American military in Arab lands. Russia did not fund the Saudi pilots who executed 911 attack. It was Islam’s response to armed kaffirs presence in the land of prophet Mohammad.
Both bushes won by both popular vote and electoral votes. I heard that recently and it struck me as an odd fact. It’s no wonder Jeb’s puddy hurts.
Only reason Dumbya won was because he ran against two idiots.
IMHO the Nixon/Vietnam experience was in Bush's mind as well. Nixon is blamed for Vietnam even though he got us out of it. Part of that is the Dim press blaming everything on Republicans. But part of it is Nixon got us out of it without it being a win. Bush didn't want that with Afghanistan. Afghanistan was looking like a losing war largely because Bush didn't want to fight it mean like we're supposed to if we go to war (especially after 9/11). So to keep from looking like the next Nixon (as far as wartime presidents go, not the Watergate stuff), Bush had to start another war in Iraq to make himself look good.
9/11 should have motivated us to go to war in Afghanistan and Pakistan with venom. Not "win over hearts and minds" and that stuff. We should have been brutal until they surrendered. They weren't made an example of like Japan was. If we had fought Afghanistan like that, IMHO there would have been less political temptation to go to war with Iraq.
“FB frenemy is calling Carter our greatest living president. Better, apparently, than the two-term demi-gods Clinton and Obama, I guess.”
Carter appeared to be forthright and honest, however he genuinely and stupidly believed that he was the smartest person in the room no matter what room he was in. And that made him a fool.
Vietnam was more forgivable than Iraq.
There were far too many sane minds shouting at GWB to stay away from the place for this too be chalked up as another foreign policy adventure that simply "didn't work out".
There were millions of us who knew it wouldn't work before it even began.
I couldn’t agree more with your post. However, even a broken clock is right twice every twenty four hours.
👍👍
Actually, I enjoyed reading the article. Cohen was specific about the issues he liked or did not like for the presidents he rated.
He made a number of very good points, as well as others I disagree with. He did not descend into irrational name calling, and I appreciated that.
He gave 41 and Reagan credit for what they did
Exactly.
AS i’ve always stated I hated GWB enemies more than he hated his own enemies.
The only winner was Iran.
I count Vietnam as bigger blunder because of the number of Americans killed and maimed. I vivited Hanoi (Ho Chi Minh city now) 8 years ago during a cruise stop. It looked pretty good to me.
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