Best, worst President

Reply to Equus
Equus, you assume that we all belong to a political party that has elected a president. That's not necessarily so. Not everyone votes for the candidates of the two party system.

I think your question is interesting, but may be hard for some to respond to within the limitation you set.

BumbleBeeBoogie

I am keeping the question short and to the point without weighting it down with footnotes and disclaimers.

One sees so many political diatribes against one party or another on the web, I'd like to tear down the wall* a little.


*The metaphoric wall between opposing political parties. Not to be construed as an actual physical wall, partition, barrier, screen, or separating object or device. Apologies to ceilings, floors, and to those lliving in unwalled structures or who live in the out-of-doors where walls do not exist.

OK, I'll play.

With the disclaimer that I have, almost consistently, not voted for either of the two major parties for the office of president, I most closely identify with the Republican party, due to it's generally conservative bent.

I also ascribe more weight to matters economic rather than matters social, so my answer is colored with that perspective.

Worst Dem President: Clinton
Worst Repub Pres: Eisenhower

Clinton took an extremely hot economy and rather than take steps to ensure that it would continue, did almost everything in his power to reign it in. All with an eye towards taking credit and creating a legacy.

Eisenhower took a potentially great post war economy and failed to take steps to ensure that it continued, putting us into perhaps the greatest period of no growth in our economic history.

Of the two, I would put Clinton in the role as the absolute worst.

He continues to lie and mislead the American people as to his place in the previous economy, and his wife is helping him out.

e.g. "THE SURPLUS"

There never was a surplus, per se, there was a cooked calculation that if the economy would have continued to be robust and we would not have had 9/11 we "would" have had a surplus.

But we never "had" a surplus as it is referred to by the Clintons.

I realize I have changed the rules, somewhat, but it is my sincere belief that we have not yet had the best democratic president yet.

Hey!!!!


Call me an optimist!!

The best from the "other" party was JFK.

The worst from my own party was perhaps also the best - Nixon.

At least in my lifetime.

This is too much! I can't take it! For two days, I have wracked my brain to try and play by these rules!!! I CAN'T DO IT!!!! Look at what Johnny Depp said!!! How can I pass this without comment? It can't be done.

JFK was a horrible President, but if he must have a designation, how about Most Overrated. His brother, Bobby, deserves any credit for any success JFK had, IMO.

Worst in history: Carter, hands down. I remember the long lines waiting for gas, malaise... A nice man, I'm sure, but hideous as President. Double digit inflation, double digit unemployment, interest rates soared, military weakened... A complete and utter total failure.

Best is a hard choice. So many of these men faced different realities, and several rose bravely and innovatively to the challenge. Though FDR's programs, I believe, had long-lasting negative impact-- I think he did what he had to do in an impossible time. Maybe he is my best Dem.

Best Repub: Eisenhower
Worst Demo: Kennedy

Oh
my
gosh


edgar and I have agreed on a political subject.

i'm with edgar on this one

I have to say Lyndon Johnson performed admirably with Civil Rights. His Presidential history has just been brutally slain by lame-o Vietnam choices, IMO. And, that is sorta not fair to me, because he didn't start the problem... He inherited it, and made it alot worse.

dys, as a vet-- can you give a thumbnail of your opinions of Johnson?

Johnson is somewhat of an enigma to me, he was a damn good politician (getting done what he wanted done) and according to recent information knew Vietnam was a disaster. his civil rights inititive was outstanding and he wrote off the south at risk to himself.

same can be said on Nixon, he accomplished some amazing things and if he had not been psycho it might be a different world today.

Though it has not yet happened on this thread, many people name JFK as one of our best presidents. When I ask for his specific accomplishments which earn him this rating, I never get a satisfactory response. Can anyone out there enlighten me?

RFK was brilliant

Jackie O should get the credit for re-working the public's perception of JFK.
I honestly think sympathy for his death, the fact that he was young, rich with all the trappings, had young children, ...pictures of him in sailboats... I honestly think this and Jackie's immortal flame, and Camelot stuff did the trick.

We're lucky he didn't get us all blown up. (Thank you, RFK.)

dys. I appreciated your comments about Nixon. I thought no one would think I was sincere, so I kept it to myself. I do think Nixon had at least one very loose screw, but absent Watergate, which was tame compared to modern scandals, Nixon was sharp and had some stellar acheivements.

Definitely paranoid. (But, they really were all out to get him, weren't they??? )

OHMIGOSH!

I worshipped RFK as a teenager. He was my boyfriend when I was little. I didn't know what he was saying, but at age 6, I sat down in front of the TV anytime he was on. My family would call me, when 'my boyfriend' came on. His assassination was not taken well around my house.

I studied him later. As dys said. Brilliant. One of the most courageous politicians in our lifetime, possibly beyond. A man of principle. One in a million.

Nixon's paranoia began with Sen Joe McCarthy and never ended.

I hope you let foreigners play.

If I was an American I would have voted 4/5 times democrat, 1 independent (Anderson) and 2 undecided (1 dem/ind; 1 dem/rep).

Best Republican: Eisenhower
Worst Democrat: Carter. I agree with Sophia's diagnosis. He even made Reagan look good, in comparison. Plus the Moscow Olympics boicott was plain dumb.
(I liked Rosalynn, though)

I think JFK's handling of the Cuban missile crisis rates up there as one of the most strategic diplomatic successes of modern times. Yes, we were on the brink. Did anybody get blown to bits? Nope.

He also kick started the space industry with the race to the moon. Despite the setbacks over the years, americans should be very proud of their space program.

The rest of his short presidency seems an ode to excess.

<*cough* ..RFK handled it ..*cough*>