Fair enough. We really do not have any way of knowing what McCain or Romney would have done if sitting in the oval office. We (the nation) voted for Obama, and he should be judged against presidents, not candidates.
We probably do not agree here. Ike was good, as was Clinton. Nixon, both Bushes and Carter were terrible. Reagan and Obama were about the same. Kennedy...:shrug: He was a bit like Obama. LBJ--like Nixon and Carter, at the bottom rung of the last 50 years.
No we don't agree on how we would rank them and that is okay as that is a personal thing. As I said views on issues vary and what is important to one isn't to another. IKE would be my number one if I was rating presidents from him forward. JFK has always been my number two, but I think having lived through his assassination and Camelot, that I rate him more on potential than what he actually did. I think up and until that day in Dallas, most Americans trusted their government and most Americans would have said the American dream is alive and well, we have one heck of a bright future. After Dallas all that changed.
Clinton was be number three and Reagan four. For some reason both of these guy could connect with the people and most Americans like them regardless of what scandal they were in. Both I would say both were uniters. What I didn't like about Reagan was he talked liked a fiscal conservative and then spent like there was no tomorrow. Most people believed the rhetoric and not their eyes. Reagan and the balanced budget amendment seem to me as him say, please stop me from spending more as I can't stop myself.
To me both LBJ and Nixon are ahead of Obama and Bush II. I think without Vietnam LBJ would have been ranked by historians as a near great president up there with Truman, Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt. Nixon without Watergate, well look at what he did, He opened up Red China, I do not think any other president could have done that. He gave us the EPA, OSHA, the Endangered species Act, funds for education, revenue sharing, detente, and much more. For the life of me, this man governed like a liberal and perhaps was the most liberal president since FDR and hence, yet most people still call him a conservative. Why? Nixon was also all for Affirmative Action and did quite a lot on that scene too. Perhaps most people just can't get past the R and the D when it comes to labeling.
Both of us are pretty close to each other, but there are differences and I think that is because we place different emphasis on different things.
Just for the heck of it, here is mine from IKE to Obama and remember Obama is more of an incomplete and can rise and fall depending on what happens over the last three years of his presidency.
1. Eisenhower
2. JFK
3. Clinton
4. Reagan
5. LBJ
6. Bush I
7. Nixon
8. Bush II
9. Obama
10. Carter
11. Ford
I would say Obama and Bush II are basically tied at this point for me. I think outside Libya when Obama refused to go to congress, I really like his foreign policy so far. Domestically, for me he hasn't been that hot.