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CNN Poll: Was Bush better president than Obama?

Boo Radley said:
You can, true. But it will be incomplete.
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I don't think anybody is trying to claim otherwise. It's an assessment of Obama up until this point. Obviously things can get better or worse, but that doesn't mean a comparison thus far is "unfair."
 
Taylor said:
I don't see why not.
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You can, but it would not be very academically honest. If I tried to change my senior thesis topic to this I would have the entire PO department on my ass for doing something like this. I can pretty much hear my advisor saying now, "You never know if something like 9/11 will happen to President Obama which can shift the way the entire country feels about him."
 
Boo Radley said:
Then you weren't paying attention. One of the largest criticism with Bush was that he rarely if ever took responsibility. Eight years after he was first elected, it was all still Clinton's fault. Obama has a while to catch up with that.
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Show proof he blamed Clinton as often as Obama blames Bush
 
ptif219 said:
You mean Bush handled his crisis better than Obama is doing
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Well even that would be hard to do because they are two different crises. If you wanted to compare the two Presidents on something you could do it on handling the Afghanistan War. But like I said earlier to be honest about it you would first have to let President Obama leave office.
 
soccerboy22 said:
Well even that would be hard to do because they are two different crises. If you wanted to compare the two Presidents on something you could do it on handling the Afghanistan War. But like I said earlier to be honest about it you would first have to let President Obama leave office.
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No I would say Obama has shown plenty and it is not good. He has to this point failed
 
ptif219 said:
No I would say Obama has shown plenty and it is not good. He has to this point failed
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Not saying he has done well. I am saying it is dishonest to compare 9/11 to the economic downturn.
 
soccerboy22 said:
You can, but it would not be very academically honest. If I tried to change my senior thesis topic to this I would have the entire PO department on my ass for doing something like this. I can pretty much hear my advisor saying now, "You never know if something like 9/11 will happen to President Obama which can shift the way the entire country feels about him."
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We're trying to assess the way the entire country feels about him now. What may or may not happen in the future is irrelevant to current attitudes. All this poll does is ask, "given what you know about Bush and what you know about Obama, who is a better president."
 
Obama has already been nominated the 15th best president. Ranking 24 places higher than Bush.

President Bush by far did the worst job as president than any one else has in a long while. He is the reason we are in this current crisis, along with everyone he allowed to have a hand in the 9/11 incident and the "War on Terror".

If you don't believe this you a fool.
 
Taylor said:
We're trying to assess the way the entire country feels about him now. What may or may not happen in the future is irrelevant to current attitudes. All this poll does is ask, "given what you know about Bush and what you know about Obama, who is a better president."
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Right, granted I did go a little off topic because I am currently venting (aka drinking) because of my senior thesis. Point is though that both men came into power during two different times. President Bush's first term had the unfortunate action of 9/11 which boosted his polls. And even though President Bush going into his second term was not well liked, he did not walk into the economic mess that President Obama did. And for some reason people though that when President Obama was elected he would some how fix the economy. So, I just don't think you can ask people who is a better president because they had to deal with two different situations. Obviously though, CNN doesn't care what I think about it, but I just feel it is a dishonest poll.
 
Peter Valentine said:
Obama has already been nominated the 15th best president. Ranking 24 places higher than Bush.

President Bush by far did the worst job as president than any one else has in a long while. He is the reason we are in this current crisis, along with everyone he allowed to have a hand in the 9/11 incident and the "War on Terror".

If you don't believe this you a fool.
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He shouldn't be nominated for anything because his term isn't over. Hell President Bush still shouldn't be ranked yet because you don't get an honest ranking until at least a decade after their presidency is over.
 
soccerboy22 said:
So, I just don't think you can ask people who is a better president because they had to deal with two different situations. Obviously though, CNN doesn't care what I think about it, but I just feel it is a dishonest poll.
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No two presidents ever face the same set of situations. It makes comparisons difficult, but people do it all the time. Historians and academic-types do it all the time.

Of course the poll has little meaning beyond current attitude toward the President. Ask a few days/weeks/months later and you'll see a very different result.

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Personally, I *HATE* CNN polls, mostly because they try to pass them off as news, often headlining their web site with crap like:

Economy worst in 200 years
According to a new CNN poll, people with utterly no knowledge of history and economics have decided that the current economic situation is the worst that has ever existed. The news proves troubling for the President, who has been...

A bit exaggerated, just to make the point.
 
Taylor said:
No two presidents ever face the same set of situations. It makes comparisons difficult, but people do it all the time. Historians and academic-types do it all the time.

Of course the poll has little meaning beyond current attitude toward the President. Ask a few days/weeks/months later and you'll see a very different result.
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Right I agree with that. I think you could compare how President Bush started to handle an economic crisis and how President Obama has handled his. But I don't think you can compare 9/11 and then the economic crisis. They are two very different crises, that was my point.
 
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soccerboy22 said:
Right I agree with that. I think you could compare how President Bush started to handle an economic crisis and how President Obama has handled his. But I don't think you can compare 9/11 and then the economic crisis. They are two very different crises, that was my point.
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I think you could compare related aspects (e.g. how each involved the public in policy decisions, etc. etc.) but yes, there are going to be components that aren't directly comparable.
 
Councilman said:
Hell yes, Obama is a rank amateur who has no clue what the ***k he's dining. He has made nothing but mistakes from the day he took office with the help of dead peoples votes, and illegals courtesy of ACORN.
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You forgot the other help he had from the MSM and Journolist.
 
Boo Radley said:
Then you weren't paying attention. One of the largest criticism with Bush was that he rarely if ever took responsibility. Eight years after he was first elected, it was all still Clinton's fault. Obama has a while to catch up with that.
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To be fair, Bush never blamed Clinton for what happened.

He had Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Fox News say it for him.
 
soccerboy22 said:
First off time stamps are your friend. If you would have looked at them you would have seen that we posted at the same time so I never saw your first question. Secondly, what you said STILL doesn't change the fact it is a stupid question and poll because President Obama's term isn't up yet. Plus what are you comparing President Bush's first term or his second?
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Please deny that YOU people didn't say Bush was the worst president in the history of the universe, BEFORE he left office.
 
American said:
Please deny that YOU people didn't say Bush was the worst president in the history of the universe, BEFORE he left office.
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I know some people did, but since I wasn't here on the website while that happened I would not have been able to say this. You can't judge him before his term in office is over.
 
Boo Radley said:
Then you weren't paying attention. One of the largest criticism with Bush was that he rarely if ever took responsibility. Eight years after he was first elected, it was all still Clinton's fault. Obama has a while to catch up with that.
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You must have been living in a parallel universe during the Bush administration. Either that, or I was. Bush not taking responsibility? Bush blaming Clinton? I'm coming up blank trying to recall anything like that.
 
Did Bush make mistakes? Hell yes but he wasn't out to destroy America as Obama seems to be by his actions and agenda.

Obama is a low live scumbag
 
Councilman said:
Did Bush make mistakes? Hell yes but he wasn't out to destroy America as Obama seems to be by his actions and agenda.

Obama is a low live scumbag
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I never had a doubt that Pres. Bush loves the America people (all of them) and his country.

Now, I have very little faith that this president comes anywhere close to loving the people or the country.
All you have to do is listen to him demonize the Rep. and tea party to see it. Then listen to all the apologies he makes for us. How about him saying we are exceptional....but... so are other countries.
Darn it! I want a President who believes in American exceptionalism with no buts about it.

Hec yes Bush was a better president!
 
soccerboy22 said:
You really can't because they came into power at two different situations. You can't judge them based off of their first year because President Bush's numbers were inflated because of 9/11. What needs to happen is people wait until both men have been out of office for a while and then you can compare them.
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You can look at Obama 20 years after his one term has ended and that's not going to change his being the worst president in US history.
 
apdst said:
You can look at Obama 20 years after his one term has ended and that's not going to change his being the worst president in US history.
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Well then in 20 years people can say that. Until then it is too early to judge his presidency.
 
Councilman said:
Did Bush make mistakes? Hell yes but he wasn't out to destroy America as Obama seems to be by his actions and agenda.

Obama is a low live scumbag
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Yeah, because 3 wars, funding them on debt owed to a communist world power, ineffectual response to natural disasters, and increasing the powers of secret courts has had quite the neglible consequences on our country.
 
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