Who was the best President?

[CommonSenseDemocrat]

39 votes, 5 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Barack Obama
	15 (38%)
	Bill Clinton
	0 (0%)
	Jimmy Carter
	5 (13%)
	Lyndon Johnson
	3 (8%)
	John Kennedy
	16 (41%)
	George W Bush
	0 (0%)
	George H W Bush
	0 (0%)
	Ronald Reagan
	0 (0%)
	Gerald Ford
	0 (0%)
	Richard Nixon
	0 (0%)
	5 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[mgmaggiemg]

1. obama, carter.....

HRC is rising to the challenge of greatness....she's gonna be great...

[mgmaggiemg]

2. ps I was not alive during kennedy

so I can't say...he was certainly great by history's standards....LBJ did a lot of great things...he rose to the challenge

[CTyankee]

3. I have to go with Obama. He brought us the ACA and ended the Iraq war for us.

Iraq is still horrible but the majority of troops are out...

[Rex]

4. And made peace with Cuba and Iran.

I was not alive for JFK, and though I love Clinton and Carter...have to go with the Big O on this one.

[GGJohn]

16. I remember the JFK funeral,

I was in Jr. High School and at that time, we only had 4 TV stations, for 3 days, it was wall to wall coverage on all the stations.

[Rex]

17. My parents told me at the time of the shooting, everyone was hysterical and crying.

It was like the entire population felt the floor drop out from under their feet. Same with Bobby Kennedy. For me, nothing is like it was before Selection 2000 and 9/11...for them it was the assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK. It tore a huge hole in the fabric of our society.

[Jim Beard]

49. LBJ brought Medicare & Medicaid and a ton of other other things

July 2, 1964
Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion or sex, in public accommodations such as hotels, theaters, parks, restaurants and other public places.
The act also authorizes the withdrawal of Federal funds from programs that practice discrimination. It discourages job discrimination through the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
It also authorizes the attorney general to bring lawsuits against schools practicing segregation. It makes the Commission on Civil Rights a permanent organization.
 
August 20, 1964
          Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act in a step toward fighting the “War on Poverty.” August 31, 1964
         
          Johnson signs the Food Stamp Act, establishing the Federal food stamp program to help poor families improve their diet.
September 3, 1964
Johnson signs the Wilderness Act, which preserves 9,200,000 acres as a Federal wilderness system. March 15, 1965
 
Johnson delivers “The American Promise” speech (Voting Rights Message) before Congress, asking for a bill insuring the right of all Americans to vote. April 11, 1965
 
Johnson signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in front of Junction School, the school he attended in 1912. The act authorizes federal aid to school districts with low income families. May 18, 1965
 
Project Head Start is launched. Mrs. Johnson serves as honorary chair of the program designed to give underprivileged children a “head start” before beginning first grade. July 30, 1965
 
Johnson signs the Social Security Amendments of 1965 in a ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Library. The amendments establish Medicare and Medicaid, health insurance programs for the elderly and low income individuals and families.
 
August 6, 1965
Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, which empowers the Federal government to oversee voter registration and elections, outlaws discriminatory literacy tests and expands voting rights for non-English speaking Americans. September 9, 1965
 
LBJ signs the act establishing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and appoints Robert Weaver as the first secretary of HUD. Weaver is the first African American appointed to the Cabinet.
 
October 2, 1965
Johnson signs the Water Quality Act, preventing water pollution by requiring states to establish

[tularetom]

5. Well, there was that whole Vietnam thing but since FDR was not included, I have to go with LBJ

He made more of a positive impact on the lives of everyday Americans than anybody else on that list.

JFK - not in office long enough to claim much of a legacy

Carter - started the shift away from the New Deal to corporate Democratic politics

Clinton - a disaster in every sense of the word

Obama - lots of potential but ultimately a disappointment

Republicans - forget it

[pampango]

13. It is tough to say "except for Vietnam" but I agree. Civil Rights, Medicare/Medicaid,

the 'War on Poverty', Immigration Act of 1965 and a host of other liberal programs were tremendous achievements. If Vietnam and other causes not lead to Humphrey's defeat by Nixon who knows what the US would look like today.

[oberliner]

25. Hey Hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today?

The whole Vietnam thing.

[Bucky]

39. about the same number as those obstructing healthcare reform

[sakabatou]

6. While I was alive, Obama

[craigmatic]

20. Same here

[Vinca]

7. Of the people on the list I would say Obama.

Overall I would say FDR.

[hifiguy]

8. Jack Kennedy.

His calm, cool leadership, together with that of his brother, prevented World War III. Hard to top that.

[CBGLuthier]

42. JFK almost caused WWIII. Bay of Pigs, missiles in Italy and Turkey

all combined to provoke the Russians. I don't give credit for averting a fight when you spit in someone's eye, kick them in the balls, and then stop.

As usual, US policies and their effect on the world are ignored while we blame everyone else for being unreasonable. The missiles in Turkey were every bit as close to the Soviet Union as the ones in Cuba. We instigated by attempting to invade a sovereign nation that was allied with Russia.

[yurbud]

52. Kennedy walked in on a military industrial complex that even subverted Ike's attempts at peace

near the end of his presidency.

Things were in motion when he came into office, he was getting bad advice, and when he realized it, he tried to change course.

And it cost him his life.

[CdnExtraNational]

53. Not sure JFK can take the blame for ordering the Bay of Pigs

Seems like others had their hand in that pie. Dulles was fired.

[hlthe2b]

9. No FDR?

yet you include BOTH Bushes, Ford, Reagan and Nixon?!

[inanna]

10. This was my first thought as well. n/t

[CommonSenseDemocrat]

14. Sorry, I went chronologically to be fair and balanced

If someone gave a good reason for Nixon, say, I do want to hear it.

[earthside]

28. FDR. Best of all.

All things considered, in my opinion, Franklin Roosevelt was the best President we ever had.

What other president ever got us through the worst economic crisis and the worst war in the nation's history?

The more I read and learn about FDR, for all his faults, his leadership was amazing.

[Matrosov]

11. FDR

[BuelahWitch]

24. Agree n/t

[rurallib]

26. hands down

[charlyvi]

41. Always and Forever

[yurbud]

50. of all time, yes.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

12. Of the ones you listed...

I think our top 5 Presidents weren't even in the options.

[First Speaker]

15. Well, Washington, Lincoln and FDR suggest themselves...

...but of those on the list, I'd have to say JFK, and for a very simple reason: anyone else would have bowed to the pressure of the Joint Chiefs and attacked Cuba during the Missile Crisis, thereby starting World War Three. He did resist, and as a result, we're all still here. Compared to that, nothing else really matters...

[lpbk2713]

18. No.

Who's on first.

[kairos12]

19. Lincoln. Not even close.

[earthside]

27. Why?

I've become less of a fan of Lincoln over time.

I think that his indecision about how to fight the Civil War and his poor choice of commanding generals prolonged the war by maybe even a couple of years.

[kairos12]

32. Despite the practically insurmountable challenges

he faced as CinC of Union Forces in the war he was responsible for passing and signing:
1. The Homestead Act
2. Morrill Act-which established the land grants for Universities in all the States
3. He established the laws for a National Banking system and National Currency.

I think these are just a few examples of his legacy to us.

In terms of the war I suppose if he had found Grant and Sherman at the beginning of War maybe it would have been shorter. But, I think the Union wasn't prepared for the slaughter Grant foresaw at the beginning of the war. To me is it is unimaginable the pressure he must have been under. He had Cabinet that was able but often undermined him, a Congress that saw him as a bumpkin, and an entrenched military staff that resisted his calls for renewed offenses against the South.

That's how I see it.

[earthside]

38. Thanks of your input.

I'm always up for reevaluating my opinion of the various presidents.

It's been a long while since I read a bio or account of Lincoln ... maybe time to do that again.

It would be a nice distraction from all the current presidential politics.

[yurbud]

51. that's a pretty good record even without freeing slaves

Without the Civil War and slavery issue, those three things would put him in the top 4-5 on their own.

[Meldread]

40. There is no way that I could support Lincoln.

I think Lincoln gets too much credit.

First, he gets credit for freeing the slaves as if he were somehow morally driven to do it. It's true that he hated slavery on a personal level, but at every turn his hand was forced by events beyond his control. The Civil War itself was long in the making even before he became President. His chief objective during the Civil War was to preserve the Union at all costs. In his own words, "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." - Abraham Lincoln in a "Letter to Horace Greeley" (August 22, 1862).

Second, there is the matter of him selecting Andrew Johnson as his Vice President, who ultimately became President after Lincoln was assassinated. Now, one could argue that Lincoln shouldn't be held responsible for President Johnson's administration, but he selected him to be his VP. This is seriously like John McCain selecting Sarah Palin to be one heart beat from the Presidency. As a result, Lincoln gets a bullet to the head, and America gets President Palin errr... President Johnson. He EASILY makes the list for the worst President in the entire history of the United States. Easily. He makes the top three, and really he should be first on the list without any real competition. There is a reason that he was the first President to ever be impeached.

If we want to blame a single individual for the failure of Post Civil War Reconstruction, we can easily lay that right at the feet of President Johnson. We were literally in the middle of ending slavery, when this racist asshole that Lincoln put on the ticket, decided 'Meh. Fuck black people. I don't give a shit about them. They should go back to being slaves again! I just want to fuck over those uppity Plantation owners, and make them kiss my mother fucking Presidential ring as if I were the god damn Pope! Make them all send me, personally, letters of apology!' ...and yeah, well... things went down hill from there.

We literally had a brief time after the Civil War where black people were equal to white people--at least in the South. They were voting and actually becoming elected officials. Literally, they were going from being slaves to elected leaders. There was this brief moment in time when, after all the horror of the Civil War, we had the opportunity to make good on the promise of the country. We had the opportunity to set things as right as they could be, and make all citizens free and equal (except for women of course). However, President Johnson fucked it all up.

Thankfully, we got General Grant to become President after him. He was amazing. However, the situation was too far gone for him to really save it, and the decisions made by Johnson had already fucked things up so much... Here is a wonderful opinion piece on President Grant in relation to Republican efforts to knock him off the $50 and replace him with Saint Ronald Reagan back in 2010. Grant is one of the most under respected Presidents in this country, and could easily be argued that he *IS* the Civil Rights President, more so than any President before or since. Just imagine how different the country would have been with a strong leader like Grant in the White House during and after the Civil War.

Literally, it wasn't until the 1960's and the Civil Rights Movement that we were getting shit done that President Grant was doing way back in the day in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War.

[PADemD]

21. FDR in the 20th century

Abraham Lincoln in the 19th century

[Donald Ian Rankin]

22. Toss up between LBJ, Clinton and Obama.

LBJ has the strongest positives but also the strongest negatives.

There isn't much to choose between Clinton and Obama- both did a decent job of stewarding the country; both could have accomplished a lot more with better Congresses.

[earthshine]

23. Write-in vote for FDR. nt

[JanMichael]

29. FDR then LBJ. since then? meh?

i get the aca crowd but social security,medicare, medicade, the voting rights act, and wicked better speachifying gives fdr and lbj a leg up on big willie, brain fade reagan, and our current president.

the bad assed wheelchair bound motherfocker had a more bad assed spouse ELEANOR that rode down south after her died to support civil rights actions with a revolver on her lap. nobody fucks with the ELEANOR. she would kick everyones ass on DU. fdr loved that other hoity toity rich fuckers hated him. good for fucking him.

LBJ was crude rude and got right up to and into repuke congresscritter faces and used dirty pool to fuck them when they refused to play ball. yes he was a texas rascist but had real decent but not delicate sensibilities and if he was in our time would be a bigger badder dean or that dude in florida. he would probably be an angry spitting supporter of all people now. still health care and insurance was his big wins....vietnam killed him.

[gwheezie]

30. In my lifetime, Obama but I history will tell

Otherwise historically Washington and Lincoln

[Herman4747]

33. "Historically" no FDR?

Could it be because he didn't listen to Eleanor enough?

[gwheezie]

36. Eleanor would have been great for many reasons.

Imho fdr saved the country and perhaps the world but I was thinking more of which presidents shaped the destiny of the country when we could have easily changed our entire system of governing.

[ms liberty]

31. FDR, who is not one if your choices. n/t

[Kingofalldems]

34. Bad poll without FDR.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

44. Most DUers weren't around for FDR or Truman

Going back 10 Presidents is fine

[Shandris]

35. John F. Kennedy. The last President to speak the truth to the American people.

And the only Democrat whose death reduced my father, a Republican, to tears.

No one in the last 40 years holds a candle.

[Skittles]

43. there's a lot sheer delusion going on now, seeing these results

[robhalf4369]

37. Out of these? Obama definitely

JFK is a close second. The Bushes are a disgrace.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

45. In my lifetime - Bill Clinton

Under Bill Clinton, we won the war in Serbia without putting our ground troops in harms way. He led the nation to record low unemployment and balanced budgets. And he did all of this with a congress as hostile, if not more so, than the current group.

[HughBeaumont]

46. I say a tie between Lincoln and FDR

One preserved the Union, the other strengthened it.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

47. Either Lincoln or FDR.

Of the ones you've listed, it's hard to say. President Obama's legacy is still being written.

Despite distractions, President Clinton performed well, albeit during peacetime. President Carter was the most honest man to ever hold the office but was hampered by some external factors. LBJ was brilliant domestically, horrible in terms of foreign policy. Who knows what JFK could have accomplished with 8 years, but his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis was epic.

I just can't honestly say of the ones you listed. But either Lincoln or FDR has to be considered the greatest of the 44.

[yurbud]

48. if not for Vietnam, it would have been LBJ. Although if Kennedy had lived, he might have done much

of the same.

[IllinoisBrenel]

54. FDR

He gave us Social security, advancement of the union movement; lead the country through the Great Depression and WW2: and many other things! His influence still lives on today! And I do respect Lincoln and I believe Obama will go down as a great president. Despite some mistakes. Any Democratic President is better than a Republican!

[BillZBubb]

55. FDR. No president in the last century and a half can touch what he achieved. It is not even close.

From the list provided, LBJ could have been the best, except he so feared the right wing anti-communists that he let himself buy into the Vietnam disaster. That mistake (and mistake is too kind a word) negates just about all the good he did domestically.

JFK was on a good track, but he just didn't have enough time in office to rate very high. Carter is a decent man, and of all the presidents, he and Obama tower in that regard. But Carter made the very bad mistake of bringing his Georgia entourage to DC to run the executive branch. He relied on a not ready for prime time crew and that was his tragic mistake.

Not one of the republicans after Eisenhower is worth spit. There is not a decent human being in the lot.

From the list given, Obama is best, though far from FDRs level.

[Glassunion]

56. Last I checked there were 44 to choose from.

What's the greatest ice cream flavor? Vanilla or Lamb?

[Orrex]

57. James K Polk, obviously

In 1844, the Democrats were split. The three nominees for the presidential candidate were: Martin Van Buren, a former president and an abolitionist; James Buchanan, a moderate; Louis Cass, a general and expansionist. From Nashville came a dark horse riding up. He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump

Austere, severe, he held few people dear. His oratory filled his foes with fear. The factions soon agreed he's just the man we need to bring about victory, fulfill our manifest destiny, and annex the land the Mexicans command. And when the votes were cast the winner was Mister James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump.

In four short years he met his every goal. He seized the whole southwest from Mexico, made sure the tariffs fell, and made the English sell the Oregon territory. He built an independent treasury. Having done all this, he sought no second term, but precious few have mourned the passing of Mister James K. Polk, our eleventh president. Young Hickory, Napoleon of the Stump.

[font size=10][font color="white"]Lyrics by the incomparable They Might Be Giants.[/font][/font]

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

58. Carter because he was the least political and most decent.

I voted for Ted Kennedy but came to admire Carter for his human decency and courage.

[BlueMTexpat]

59. Of those listed, I rank

Pres Obama the highest. Hands down.

I loved JFK and he remains a personal hero but his term was cut short by his assassination. The fact that he still has such a grip on our imaginations and aspirations shows that he might also have achieved greatness.

If Jimmy Carter had had a second term, I believe that he also would have been considered great. He most certainly is the greatest ex-President ever. The nation would not only be much more prosperous as a whole, but some of the worst foreign policy decisions of the Reagan era (our disastrous policy in Central & South America & Africa, Iran-Contra, arming mujaheddine who later became al-Qaeda, etc.) would likely have been avoided.

Lyndon Johnson's era saw the enactment of civil rights and Medicare, among other noteworthy actions that benefited society as a whole. But the Vietnam War was a horrible blight on these admirable accomplishments.

Bill Clinton presided over prosperity generally, but still had to spend a lot of time dealing with deficits from GOPer Presidents and nearly had his Presidency derailed altogether by his own failings. Some of the more controversial laws that were enacted during his Presidency, e.g., NAFTA and Welfare Reform among others, would likely have had their worst effects mitigated, if not obviated altogether, under an Al Gore administration.

But in 2000, there were too many Democrats who apparently believed that there was no difference between Gore and Bush. I hear much of the same rhetoric today from some - certainly not all - SBS supporters. When WILL we ever LEARN?