Your Opinion: The Best and Worst US Presidents

Abraham Lincoln for one of the best

Thomas Jefferson for best, Worst? Grant used to hold that "honor" but I think both GW Bush and Obama have beat him out. Clinton comes in there too. I guess a three way tie.

Carter was the worst.
Reagan was one of the top 4.
Thomas Jefferson top 3.
Lincoln top 2.
Washington probably the number 1.

worst? G W. Bush and Ronald Wilson Reagan both were critical to the decline of the country...both economically and culturally. { yes Reagan may be even worse that W in the long run...tripled deficits, raised taxes and grew government all while bamboozeling the Republican party into thinking the opposite...W was a disaster.]

Lincoln, Washington, Jefferson, FDR and yes Obama are going to be considered the greatest.

FDR? Obama? Only if you are a Socialist.

I agree Louis Reagan didn't deliver real fiscal conservatism, that's one big problem I have with him.

Texas I agree with you saying that Carter was the worst. To be the moderator I would say that each President has his weakness and strength. I do not think Ronald Reagan was so bad: I remember that I could find work despite 11 million unemployed and that with his speeches and way of communicating he gave back "the proud" to the USA. But not being American I may be wrong. Clinton was a good President for overseas and had a good image in different countries. The 2 Bush were awful, inside USA as outside. Finally, I believe that Obama will do a great job. Let him to continue what he began, his mandate is not ended yet!

You are right...Obama's mandate is over in 2012...lol.

~M

and then he'll get an even larger one......what will the wingnuts do?

Louis, Please explain What constitutes a "wingnut" you use that term a lot but never say exactly what it is. Is it anyone who disagrees with you or with Obama?

Best? Washington, Cleveland, Coolidge; presidents who actually stayed within the boundaries of the Constitution or in Washington's case provided the example of how all our president should act.

Worst...ugh long list. In all honesty the US has had more mediocre/poor ones than excellent or even good. Worst would be Fillmore, Buchanan, Wilson, FDR, and LBJ all for being either ineffective, entering a huge war, or in the case of the last 3 for twisting our republican ideals totally out of socket.

So far I have concluded every President since Coolidge was either mediocre or a bad one. I haven't read enough about Coolidge to form an opinion on him yet.

In all honesty the US has had more mediocre/poor ones than excellent or even good.

I Couldn't agree more.

As the saying goes, God protects drunks, children and the United States of America-credited to Kaiser Wilhem of Germany after watching American politics for a period.

Best: Washington and Lincoln.

Worst? I'm with Charles. There are so many. FDR, LBJ, Carter, Clinton, Obama. Hmmm. Looks like there's a trend there.

Clinton actually comes out better with the passage of time. He overall was better than Bush if naught for any other reason is that the trappings of power were more appealing to him than the use of it after his political defeats of his first term.

He in no way deserves being among the many listed as bad or horrible. He will get a typical mediocre or slightly better rating.

I did not have sex with that woman.... Clinton/Nixon is in the same sinking boat. I have no respect for them because they had no respect for the office.
~M

LMAO

Clinton was rotten but when compared to the rest of the clowns he was just mediocre.

Best - The peoples president of course. JFK.

Worst - GW Bush and Nixon. For radical big government policies, attacks on personal freedoms, the economy, and greed.

Very hard to disagree with Nixon and I should have included him. Typical progressive big government control freak.

Agreed Bush and definitely Nixon were bad ones.

but "only Nixon could go to China."

Worst... Lessee now, we've had Grant, a drunk and a military martinet; Hoover, a completely clueless tool of Wall Street who allowed his Wall Street mentors to plung the country into a depression; Reagan, a second-rate actor, as State governor (from whom California has YET to recover), and an economic naif who set America up to follow California; and Carter, a State governor and born-again evangelical Christian who actually believed in and acted upon the "love thy neighbor," and "turn the other cheek" tenets of the Christian faith - for which he is excoriated by today's fundamentalist and evangelical Christians.

For best, the list is easier. Washington, who guided the new country he made possible through the transition from colony, through the failed Confederacy to a functional Federal Government, and served as its first president, molding many of its tenets and traditional views of itself for the next two-hundred plus years; Lincoln, who, whether abolitionist or not (almost certainly not), recognized that if he allowed the country to once divide itself, it would not likely ever be more than any number of small fiefdoms and Kennedy, who realized that it was time and past time to put the fears of the previous administration aside and force the issue of equality, and thereby defeat and destroy the horrors of official segregation and Jim Crow laws. Whether he would have been successful is a moot (NOT mute) point, but his death gave LBJ the leverage HE needed to make every one of JFK's legislative initiatives happen.

Grant a military martinet? Might want to recheck that a bit, should take you about 10 seconds. The drunk story has been disproved by virtually every historian who looks at his military/presidential record. Few would argue his drinking problems before the Civil War however. He gets a poor rating overall simply because he did not control the corruption of others he trusted.

LOL, blaming California's problems on GOVERNOR Reagan is a new one. You should patent that attempt.

Good point about JFK's death likely was the impetuous for the success of much of his agenda.

Chuck... your new name is Icarus. Reaching so far...
Reagan caused cali's issue huh? lol. Charles is right, you should try to patent that.

~M

Hoover was definitely a bad one, for his massive intervention and laying the groundwork for a lengthy depression.

Every single President since 1913 made a major mistake: they did not try to end the Federal Reserve.

Amen.

Washington, Jefferson, Coolidge, Reagan were best, in descending order.

Worst were: Carter, FDR, Lincoln, but by far, Woodrow Wilson.

Forgot about Wilson! After all he supported the income tax and the federal reserve. IDK which is worse, Wilson or FDR.

True. We always forget Wilson in the group of baddies.

Coolidge was the real cause of the depression!!!

Sorry, I don't get all the support for Lincoln, he suspended habeas corpus, initiated a draft where people could pay substitutes to serve, and started a war that resulted in deaths of 500,000 Americans. Maybe half a million lives had to be sacrificed for people's freedom, I'm just not sure that there couldn't have been some other way. I mean true civil rights weren't really established for 100 years. If you ask me Lincoln was the first Big Government President. Let's not forget, he only freed the slaves in the states that were rebelling.

BRAVO! I cringed each time I saw Lincoln mentioned...

I totally agree the 600K + lives spent in the civil war was unnecessary, slavery should have been ended in another manner. Also we might have had fewer racial problems without that war which most perceive was just over slavery.

James Buchanan
Franklin Pierce
George W. Bush
Richard Nixon

I'd also add Hoover.

Are those best or worst? lol

I have to say FDR, Lincoln as being the best.

Worse Nixon, GW Bush

Thanks for posting this to 4 US, World News & Opinions.

That's so easy.

I'll go with Washington as the best because he started it and also knew when to get out.

I'll go with George W. Bush just because he was stupid and needed to be told what to do by Cheney.

One shouldn’t forget Millard Fillmore, as he was the one that brought indoor plumbing to the White house.

Worst: Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, Obama, Abraham Lincoln
Best: Calvin Coolidge, Grover Cleveland, Ronald Reagan; Andrew Jackson

Try not to just focus on the past few decades of Presidents

Except, those in my lifetime are the ones I actually know something about (who can trust the victors that write history?)

Best: Eisenhower

Worst: Reagan (who started this whole mess, destroying the US for a dream of big business rule)

Eisenhower rose up out of the Pendegrast Mob in Kansas City. My Grandma ran with them, and they were mobsters, for real, not kidding. My Dad chased after, and finally found his mother in the Muelbach Hotel with Pendegrast (who was running for Governor at the time) and his thugs, making moonshine in the bathtub. She died an alcoholic.

who can trust the victors that write history?

That's also a problem with recent/current history.

It just takes a lot more time to research and get hopefully an objective view of history.

Great question.

Best: FDR -- saw us through some of the worst times we've ever seen and compensated for his disability by partnering with a great woman.

Worst: -- Bush 43.

Personally, I don't think there is such a thing as a best or worst President. They all follow the rules of the System, and honestly, there isn't much a President can do on his own anyway. Maybe we should be asking which are the best and worst Congresses we've had, but then it's all the System again anyway, eh? I will say this though, we are going absolutely nowhere but down with all the division in the nation.

we are going absolutely nowhere but down with all the division in the nation.

That's exactly what the establishment wants, so they can keep robbing the people.

I been saying that for a long time. Two wings, same bird, vulture. But everyone keeps jumping on one wing or the other instead of demanding something new this is actually run by THE PEOPLE, not the party.

Every time the people try the establishment polarizes it: the tea parties are a great example, they started as opposition to both parties.

What do you think we could do to overcome this problem?

stop supporting a party, and stop inviting partisan celebs to a rally.... Yeah, like the tea partiers inviting Sarah Palin. We actually need to stand up and forbid them to take part. Our representive here in Montana says he is embracing the Tea Party and said anyone would be a fool not to. It's only to further their career, not help people. They call that infiltrating. Of course they don't actually want the people to stand up against the System!

I agree keep the politicians out, they have already ruined their chance. (Unless their track record was already consistent with the groups messege.)

Barack Obama's track record (community organizer) was consistent with the message of the people, and the people, in fact, encouraged him to run before he had actually planned. Look where that's gotten us! Why? Because he is affliated with and obligated to the Democratic Party, while trying to reach a hand out to the Republican Party, which keeps getting slapped and told NO. I think his intentions were good, he just got, uh, what's the word, Over-ridden by the two party system, which will never ever come into agreement, or even try to meet halfway. That isn't their own best self-interest.

What about his track record in the Senate and in Illinois politics?

Matthew the System is the System, and I don't think it matters whether it city, state or federal - it's all corrupt, it all brainwashes the people, and it all controls the people, no matter how good they try to make it look. Government wasn't put in place to help the people, but to regulate them.

Do you think there is a solution?

So for all of you what makes a good President? Makes a lot of money, anti-corporatist, peace maker, says nothing new, implement new sustainable programs?

One that strictly follows the Constitution and protects our freedoms.

You do not want any change as our world evolves?

There is plenty of room for change outside of government.

There is no reason for the government's role of protecting our rights to change.

Your personal liberties should always be protected. Some things don't change. Just like the law of gravity or mathematics (5 times five always equals 25).

I agree with you that all governments should protect our rights. Do they have the right to CCTV us all the time?

If the CCTV's are pointed at public property, I would think so. But I wish they didn't.

IF you are on your own property you have the right to not be CCTV'ed.

That is my problem. It is ambiguous, because most of the CCTV's are governmental to prevent and to oscult "who can damage properties, who made this crime, who claim this..." for me it is a "wall" to our rights.

I certainly don't like having CCTV's everywhere either.

We were talking to a neighbor yesterday, a school teacher, we both agree, Obama is actually trying to do something for America. The last President that did this was Roosevelt.

Thank you Rita.

For the worst, I'm torn between Reagan and Bush43. Reagan, because the deficit and deregulation standards set during his watch will, I think, take decades to repair. Bush43, because his war postures, lies, and errors have permanently damaged the US in the face of the world.

As to the best, I'm going to give that to Gerald Ford. Surprised? Our first non-elected president came to the office in the face of the worst disgrace to the presidency in US history. He had to make a choice whether prosecuting or pardoning a former president would be in the best interests of healing the nation (agree or disagree with his decision, the country did not end up a consitutional crisis). There was a fair amount of legislation remaining on the table that needed to move forward and that was able to continue.

I am surprised someone picked Ford, thanks for your comment!

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