George W. Bush - Still the Worst

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2. i think it's hard to find another president who did anywhere near his real and enduring damage.

i googled a list of presidents often thought of as among the worst.
i think none of them come close to the real and lasting damage that shrub did:

- two completely voluntary wars, both long-lasting and tremendously expensive, with little nebulous goals, no exit strategy, and little hope of any real upside.
- turned a record surplus into a record deficit.
- stacked the supreme court with young right-wing partisan hacks.
- 9/11 happened under his watch, and he turned a unifying moment into a cudgel with which to abuse political opponents.
- lost major respect internationally
- insituted torture
- created and atmosphere of animosity and contempt for liberals, democrats, muslims, atheists, agnostics, and others.
- and the list goes on.



taylor: forgettable, but didn't do much damage.

hoover: the depression was probably doomed to start regardless of who was president. he didn't rise to the challenge, that's for sure, but in any event his major failings were largely limited to the economic realm.

nixon: definite mixed bag. obviously his war policy was an abomination and his paranoia and crookedness did brought disgrace to the office. on the other hand, he gave us a few goodies like the epa, opened up china, and started the process to reduce icbms with russia, supported equal rights, and implemented affirmative action.

w.h.harrison: gimme a break, how much damage can you do in 30 days?
grant: sure, his administration was notoriously corrupt, but what else did he do?

tyler: mostly just ineffective.

fillmore: kicked the slavery/civil war can down the road, but every president did that from washington right up until lincoln.

pierce: mostly just an expansionist. on the side of slavery, but again, not very different from others pre-civil war.

a.johnson: mostly in disfavor for having opposed reconstruction, but reconstruction was a mixed bag. moreover, his damage was arguably not particularly enduring, or at least, whatever enduring damage there was was due more to slavery and war rather than johnson.

harding: mostly just useless.

buchanan: another of the pre-civil war presidents. none of them are uniquely terrible.