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Who was the best president of the last ten

Who was the best

  • Total voters
    78
Xsnake1 said:
John F. Kennedy - 1961-1963
Lyndon B. Johnson - 1963-1969
Richard Nixon - 1969-1974
Gerald Ford - 1974-1977
Jimmy Carter - 1977-1981
Ronald Regan - 1981-1989
George Bush Sr. - 1989-1993
Bill Clinton - 1993-2001
George W. Bush - 2001-2009
Barack Obama - 2009-pres.
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I don't believe questions like this are fair. The most recent 30 years is too recent to make a completely valid judgement... good or bad... on any President. To really know you have to see how their actions and policies shook out. What may have been popular at the time may prove to be a boondoggle, and visa versa.


NIMBY said:
You may want to check the spelling of Reagan. Even Cheney stated that 'Reagan proved that deficits didn't matter". We now have a 17 trillion Total Accumulated Debt that proves different.
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You are attributing the lesson that bonehead Cheney gleaned from Reagan's Presidency, not anything Reagan himself said and/or may have believed.

That being said... was Cheney wrong? I believe his sentiment was/is repugnant, but let's ask what he meant.

Did he mean "deficits don't matter" as a matter of fiscal policy, and debt should be used to effect policy?

Or, did he mean "deficits don't matter" as a political consideration? That they could run up a deficit and not suffer political fallout for it. Shoot, maybe even gain politically.

Either one is repugnant, but if it is the latter one (political) then he wasn't necessarily wrong... in the sense that in spite of people's whining and moaning over the deficit and debt we still elect and re-elect politicians that are willing to spend us into oblivion. Especially Congress, which is where the real purse strings are anyway.


Xsnake1 said:
I think it was Ronald Regan because he had good economic policies and he did most of the stuff that led to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the USSR.
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...and this is why I say we need to see how things shake out. I have long been a Reagan admirer, for the same reasons you state. But, he also greatly increased the drug war and gave us things like civil asset forfeiture which has caused uncountable damage since then. He may have won the Cold war, but replaced it with a war on his own people. Nothing noble about that.
 
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I picked W for one reason. His judges. If Gore had won, we would not have had gun rights affirmed by the USSC. Roberts and Alito rather than say two more like Kagan or Sotomayor. W picked the strongest set of judges going. Brilliant young jurists like Jeffrey Sutton and Raymond Kethledge on the Circuit I mainly deal with.
 
falcata said:
Isn't domestic drilling is at an all-time high. And I believe you can thank Jimmy Carter for that initiative.
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On state lands, nothing to do with federal govt. Drilling on federal leases is down because of Obamas illegal moritorium on gulf drilling, stalling of approvals, and blocking of fracking.
 
Juiposa said:
Reagan had next to nothing to do with the collapse of the USSR. That was all Gorbachev.
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Saying he had next to nothing to do with it is easily proved false. Reagan put serious pressure on the USSR through military spending, economic policies, political rhetoric and eventually nuclear disarmament. He was as critical to the collapse as Gorbachev.
 
Blast! A pox on the Generation X kids coming on and voting for Reagan and Clinton. :2mad:


STOOOPPPP!! :stop:


Don't be blinded by their relatively recent fame! Focus of the demi-god of camelot, John F. Kennedy!!! :sword:


A vote for Kennedy is a vote to the people!!! :ind:



LOL :)
 
Captain Adverse said:
Blast! A pox on the Generation X kids coming on and voting for Reagan and Clinton. :2mad:


STOOOPPPP!! :stop:


Don't be blinded by their relatively recent fame! Focus of the demi-god of camelot, John F. Kennedy!!! :sword:


A vote for Kennedy is a vote to the people!!! :ind:



LOL :)
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Pox on you !

The 2011 publication "The Generation X Report", based on annual surveys used in the Longitudinal Study of today's adults, finds that Gen Xers, who are defined in the report as people born between 1961 and 1981, are highly educated, active, balanced, happy and family-oriented. The study dispels the materialistic, slacker, disenfranchised stereotype associated with youth in the 1970 and 80s. [29] Various questions and responses from approximately 4,000 people who were surveyed each year from 1987 through 2010 made up the study. [30]
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Sincerely,
Vintage 1968
 
Gerald Ford because he was barely President long enough to screw up.
 
NIMBY said:
Since JFK wasn't elected and all! Or was that Daley tossing voter machines into Lake Michigan? May have led to Nixon's paranoia. I suppose being the only POTUS who was murdered since 1900 doesn't qualify him either.
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Look how fierce and cute you are...

They dont deserve to be on the list because there wasnt enough time to fairly judge their presidency.
 
jonny5 said:
Saying he had next to nothing to do with it is easily proved false. Reagan put serious pressure on the USSR through military spending, economic policies, political rhetoric and eventually nuclear disarmament. He was as critical to the collapse as Gorbachev.
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The statement I made was hyperbolic. Gorbachev had everything to do with the USSR's collapse. Reagan's policies would have never lead to the USSR's collapse, maybe its weakening as a global power, but not its collapse.
 
radcen said:
Gorbachev had almost nothing to do with it. The foundation was already ready to collapse, he just finished it off.
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The USSR would have perpetuated, like every other country that has ever gone through a tough time. Gorbachev let it fall apart. He wanted to prove to the world he was serious with democratic reform, and let it happen.
 
Juiposa said:
The USSR would have perpetuated, like every other country that has ever gone through a tough time. Gorbachev let it fall apart. He wanted to prove to the world he was serious with democratic reform, and let it happen.
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Let it happen, or intentionally made it happen?

The distinction is important.
 
Neither fierce nor cute, just as I see it. Nixon blamed the Daley machine for stealing the 1960 election here in IL. And you may remember the Daley machine losing its credentials at the 1972 convention after the disaster in Chicago in 1969. All POTUSs desrve to be on the list, even Hayes.
VanceMack said:
Look how fierce and cute you are...

They dont deserve to be on the list because there wasnt enough time to fairly judge their presidency.
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radcen said:
You are attributing the lesson that bonehead Cheney gleaned from Reagan's Presidency, not anything Reagan himself said and/or may have believed.

That being said... was Cheney wrong? I believe his sentiment was/is repugnant, but let's ask what he meant.

Did he mean "deficits don't matter" as a matter of fiscal policy, and debt should be used to effect policy?

Or, did he mean "deficits don't matter" as a political consideration? That they could run up a deficit and not suffer political fallout for it. Shoot, maybe even gain politically.

Either one is repugnant, but if it is the latter one (political) then he wasn't necessarily wrong... in the sense that in spite of people's whining and moaning over the deficit and debt we still elect and re-elect politicians that are willing to spend us into oblivion. Especially Congress, which is where the real purse strings are anyway.
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And this is why I like talking to centrists. We are not walking ideologues. We own up to our crapola votes, like my 3rd overall POTUS one against Carter. How do you talk with people who say the $17 trillion or higher is all Obama? They don't even consider the interest on the TAD.
 
radcen said:
Let it happen, or intentionally made it happen?

The distinction is important.
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He had no intention of collapsing the USSR, but he did, almost singlehandedly. He sought to liberalise and reform the country, and when the satellites and the 14 republics used that opportunity to break away, he let it happen. To prove to the world he was serious. What ended up happening, well you know.
 
I see that as a problem with transition and overlap between admins. Bush-41 got his 1,000 points foundation and helped Clinton. He didn't like the gutter he had to wallow in to beat Dukakis. The last two transitions have not gone well, IMO.
radcen said:
:lamo Neither of which were his doing. He just got to be the luckiest guy in the history of the Presidency.
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Too bad the poll didn't include the the previous 3 before JFK--IKE, Truman and FDR--the post-crash POTUSs and relatively "modern", though they have made it into this discussion. Good thread.
 
And speaking as a Lincoln Dem, we certainly didn't help matters in the 80's with spending/not cutting. Reagan was about making deals. The Great Society together with Star wars and such was too much for our economy. Time to let the Congresses take their share of the blame.
joG said:
Admittedly Reagan might have done better had he cut spending. The argument would be stronger, however, for the Presidents after winning of the Cold War. After that point the US could paid back the debt.
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Republicans gave Clinton no choice but to make good decisions. In essence, Dole and Gingrich should be on there too: Clinton/Dole/Gingrich. At least the man was smart enough to do the right thing, unlike another president I know *cough Obama*.
 
NIMBY said:
Neither fierce nor cute, just as I see it. Nixon blamed the Daley machine for stealing the 1960 election here in IL. And you may remember the Daley machine losing its credentials at the 1972 convention after the disaster in Chicago in 1969. All POTUSs desrve to be on the list, even Hayes.
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People that judge Kennedy a 'great' president are unrealistic at best. They are blinded by an image. We have no idea of what he may have been. What he was...especially from a foreign policy and a military perspective...wasnt all that impressive. Socially...he was a Reagan style democrat. He would be disgusted by the handout nation we have become.
 
Thats what made Clinton such a good president. He had the morals of a rat, but from an executive role, he was very good and very good for the country. He knew when to fight the GOP and when to go along. He was also masterful at both blaming the other side for passing reforms (like welfare) and then later taking credit for it. The man had skilz. I'd take him back tomorrow.
 
Why wouldn't that be that Reagan was like a JFK-Dem since JFK came first? And yes, JFK was socially conservative, except with his own personal behavior. He didn't come around on civil rights quickly either, like Reagan. JFK may not be great to some, but he belongs in the poll, that's all.
VanceMack said:
People that judge Kennedy a 'great' president are unrealistic at best. They are blinded by an image. We have no idea of what he may have been. What he was...especially from a foreign policy and a military perspective...wasnt all that impressive. Socially...he was a Reagan style democrat. He would be disgusted by the handout nation we have become.
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