The Worst President In American History Poll

[thecossack]

Always an incendiary subject -- who was best/worst, right/wrong, last/first... always tied to the individuals' point of view. Judgments made, usually based on the "facts" as favored by the proponent.

Black can be white, right is wrong, best is worst depending on one's personal history, societal influences and temperament.

My sense is that the current president/administration continue to deal with more difficult problems and critical decisions than any since 1940.

Inherited were an economic collapse, shooting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorist groups all over Africa, etc. Situations demanding all.

Exacerbating the depth of those and other problems were:

1.) The mouthpiece of the "right," Rush Limbaugh declaring from the beginning that he hoped for a "failed Obama presidency."

2.) The Republican leader of the Senate -- Mitch McConnell, starting early on that his No. 1 goal was "to make Obama a one-term president."

3.) The rise of the "tea party" that threw the Republicans into disarray and reaction, leading to no cooperation from House/Senate on anything Obama proposed. Putting Speaker John Boehner in a posture of having to appease those radicals and unable to manage his own party.

4.) The elephant in the living room that no one will even mention -- the White House occupied by a black man who needed to be put in his proper place... subservient to the white male power structure. Get thee back to the cotton fields where you belong, Barack.

Obama is frequently excoriated for being aloof, not building bridges, acting unlawfully, refusing to co-operate, compromise and generally not being at all nice to opposition or their leaders.

Hmmmm... with the noose, hood and handcuffs the opposition offered as their governing strategy why did Obama act like such a dick?

Thank goodness only two more years of this pariah in the White House. Then Hillary Clinton will be elected and the Republican party will be free of the millstone of the Obama presidency and the two (or three) parties can love one another again.

But, then again, what the hell do I know?

[cicciobuki]

Originally Posted by thecossack

Always an incendiary subject -- who was best/worst, right/wrong, last/first... always tied to the individuals' point of view. Judgments made, usually based on the "facts" as favored by the proponent.

Black can be white, right is wrong, best is worst depending on one's personal history, societal influences and temperament.

My sense is that the current president/administration continue to deal with more difficult problems and critical decisions than any since 1940.

Inherited were an economic collapse, shooting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, terrorist groups all over Africa, etc. Situations demanding all.

Exacerbating the depth of those and other problems were:

1.) The mouthpiece of the "right," Rush Limbaugh declaring from the beginning that he hoped for a "failed Obama presidency."

2.) The Republican leader of the Senate -- Mitch McConnell, starting early on that his No. 1 goal was "to make Obama a one-term president."

3.) The rise of the "tea party" that threw the Republicans into disarray and reaction, leading to no cooperation from House/Senate on anything Obama proposed. Putting Speaker John Boehner in a posture of having to appease those radicals and unable to manage his own party.

4.) The elephant in the living room that no one will even mention -- the White House occupied by a black man who needed to be put in his proper place... subservient to the white male power structure. Get thee back to the cotton fields where you belong, Barack.

Obama is frequently excoriated for being aloof, not building bridges, acting unlawfully, refusing to co-operate, compromise and generally not being at all nice to opposition or their leaders.

Hmmmm... with the noose, hood and handcuffs the opposition offered as their governing strategy why did Obama act like such a dick?

Thank goodness only two more years of this pariah in the White House. Then Hillary Clinton will be elected and the Republican party will be free of the millstone of the Obama presidency and the two (or three) parties can love one another again.

But, then again, what the hell do I know?

That post deserves a big fat Thanks button! (a thumb will have to do)

Originally Posted by big cheeze

I agree that George W was one of the 3 worst presidents, I put him at number three. I put mcKinley as the worst with coolidge running a very close 2nd.

While this topic has become a venting tool for people to bash on Obama (and some on Bush too), i find this post much more interesting. Also because i don't know either president - i'm not American, i have an excuse

Could you explain why these are your choices, Big Cheeze?

[charliels531]

I enjoy threads like this for the displays of ignorance, like thechestnut; sadly, these discussions are tainted with the racism of people like budkona.

So what standards are we to use?

The Association of Professional Historians doesn't use any set standards, because the consensus of professional historians for several decades has been that James Buchanan was the worst, and it's hard to argue that a man who sat back and did nothing for four years as the nation plunged toward civil war was anything but a total failure.

The melange of racists and deranged pigs who call themselves "conservatives" are claiming powers to judge President Obama, when they are simply revealing their deep, often unconscious, racism, and can safely be disregarded by sane people.

So should we try to establish criteria? If so, do we differentiate foreign policy and domestic policy? For example, Wilson clearly receives high marks for domestic policy--The Federal Reserve system, the Wagner Act, enactment of most of the Progressive legislation that Teddy Roosevelt had not been able to enact; but in terms of foreign policy, he authored the Treaty of Versailles, which set the stage for World War Two.

Do we limit our judgment to just the federal government? In that case, Chester Arthur, who singlehandedly established the federal civil service, would get high marks. Or do we want to include a president's impact on both the federal government and the states? If we do, Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt stand out at the top; Millard Fillmore and Warren Harding are clearly at the bottom.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by rodak

So because I disagree with everything president B.O. has done to destroy this country that makes me a racist?

If you wish to look to rascism in the past 1850's to the 1960's you had better brush up on your history.
Because you will find democrats were behind the race hatred in the U.S. during this time frame.
Who freed the Slaves?
A Republican that's who.
What did the majority of democrats do for Blacks during this time?
Very damn little.

But is it not also true, Rodak, that the very people who once ran the Democrat Party in the Old South switched sides in the wake of LBJ's civil rights reforms and are now the bedrock of the Republican Party block which dominates the Old South states and paints that part of America red during every presidential election, even when someone so patently unfit as George W Bush is running as a Republican? The Republican Party which was born out of the abolitionist fury over Whig betrayals such as the 1850 Fugitive Slaves Act has no kinship at all with modern Republican politicians from the South, who are philosophically descended from the successionist CSA and the Dixiecrats such as Strom Thurmond, a man who opposed civil rights for black Americans so vehemently that he filibustered against the 1957 Civil Rights Act for over 24 hours continuously. Strom Thurmond is a perfect example; he crossed the floor to the Republicans over the 1960s civil rights reforms. Look today at Rick Perry and his treasonable musings over a breakaway for Texas. I will be honest. I would not trust most of these people to support the Fourteenth Amendment if it came up for a vote tomorrow.

President Lincoln was a great president and very arguably the best one you've ever had. If he were alive today, some Tea Party scumbag would be running against him in a primary, denouncing his bi-partisanship and condemining him as "Republican In Name Only".

Most of the Americans I know personally are Republicans and in all cases good people who I am proud to call my friends. But I have no use for the Republican Party that now is; I greatly preferred the fiscally conservative and socially neutral Republican Party of Richard Nixon's and Gerald Ford's era.

[cicciobuki]

How far back do democrats/republicans go?

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by cicciobuki

How far back do democrats/republicans go?

The Republicans were established in the late 1850s and President Lincoln was the first Republican presidential candidate, in 1859. The Democratic Party, to give it its proper name, goes back to 1828; the first President was Andrew Jackson.

[time_killer]

As long as people make politics about racism, nothing will ever get accomplished. The real truth is that people are manipulated by politicians. They will say whatever is necessary to get enough votes to win an election. The most frustrating part of the whole system is elected officials do what they need to do to get as rich and as powerful as possible, regardless of which party they are associated with. As long as the people, all the people of all race, color and creed "WE THE PEOPLE" are fighting against one another, we will NEVER unite against the real problem which are the politicians. That is what happened back in 1776. We knew who and what the problem was back then and we were able to work together and organize ourselves as ONE to fight for real freedom.

[c-cat]

Why not nominate the President who:

Ordered the military to seize the operations of two newspapers and imprison their editors because the content was deemed damaging to the government.

Had one of his critics arrested and deported.

Suspended habeas corpus and denied citizens due process.

Rescinded an original policy of emancipation for slaves.

Ordered the removal of Native Americans from their lands to a reservation. More than one-third of the displaced Natives died on the journey to the reservation.

Allowed a POW camp intended to hold 6000 prisoners to ahold more than 120000. The prisoners were underfed and lived in squalor.

Advocated for the deportation of former slaves out of America.


This was all accomplished by Lincoln.

There is not a good one in the bunch and there certainly isn't one who can be agreed upon as the worst.

[scoundrel]

Originally Posted by c-cat

Why not nominate the President who:

Ordered the military to seize the operations of two newspapers and imprison their editors because the content was deemed damaging to the government.

Had one of his critics arrested and deported.

Suspended habeas corpus and denied citizens due process.

Rescinded an original policy of emancipation for slaves.

Ordered the removal of Native Americans from their lands to a reservation. More than one-third of the displaced Natives died on the journey to the reservation.

Allowed a POW camp intended to hold 6000 prisoners to ahold more than 120000. The prisoners were underfed and lived in squalor.

Advocated for the deportation of former slaves out of America.


This was all accomplished by Lincoln.

There is not a good one in the bunch and there certainly isn't one who can be agreed upon as the worst.

I suppose one wouldn't nominate Mr Lincoln (though a few people have) mainly because he led the fight to save the Union of the United Staes from traitors. It took a Civil War to break the power of the slave owning interests over Congress and the Supreme Court, but once that power was broken, Mr Lincoln saw through the process of destroying the "peculiar institution" of slavery in its heartlands. It was his successor, the Tennessean Andrew Johnson, who finished the job and signed off on the 14th Amendment.

[Mal Hombre]

Originally Posted by c-cat

Allowed a POW camp intended to hold 6000 prisoners to ahold more than 120000. The prisoners were underfed and lived in squalor.

There had been a policy of exchanging prisoners but this had been rescinded following the murder of black Union prisoners by the Confederates.Facilities for prisoners on both sides were inadequate but the Confederate Camp Sumpter at Andersonville was a great deal worse than any run by the Union.