Who do you consider the greatest Presidents in your life time and why? (1 Viewer)

[rustycolts]

1 Eisenhower  Civil rights act, Interstate highways, Ended a major conflict and kept us at peace during his Presidency, Balanced the budget while in office. 

2. Ronald Regan. Ended the cold War, Reaganomics. 

3. Kennedy. Avoided a nuclear war with the Soviet Union by standing up to Kruchev. Started the Peace Corp.

I don't think any other President in my life time could hold a candle to these guys especially in the last 20 years.

 

[Insein]

Was too young to remember Reagan but probably him. 

Thought Bush in my 20's when I was young and naive. Now I realize Clinton, Bush, Obama were basically the same presidency for 24 years. 

 

[Sabertooth]

Carter.  Just no.  Best human being out of all of these rapscallions.  But weak as a leader.

Reagan was the worst, hastening the demise of the middle class with his policies. Crippling unions.  Dumping the fairness doctrine.    Basically handing the keys of the nation over to Corporations.  Not to mention his business in South America.  Truly awful man.   

Bush 1 was just a continuation of Reagan.  

Clinton was easily the best economically.  He’s a creep, but he ran this country like a well oiled machine.  But then again killed a cult too.  Which was pretty awful.  

Bush 2 would be the worst, for his weakness in abdicating his power to Cheny and ushering in so much war and bloodshed.  Basically giving the 9/11 the response they requested, which is the annihilation of America’s financial industry.  

Obama did well.  Some shady stuff but they all do that. Killed Bin Laden.  Brought about healthcare change, which is still badly needed.  

Trump would higher here if not for his complete lack of competence, he couldn’t even build his signature wall in 4 years.  Did he succeed at anything at all?  Obviously the coup attempt puts him near the back for all time.  

Biden is just a yawner.  But that stock market tho! Best ever by far.  

Actually I’m not impressed with any of them.  Probably I’d pick Bill Clinton as the best.  But all he really did was shoot aces on the economy which coincided with the tech boom.  
 

 

[Murph]

I was born in 1985 so none.

 

[GoBirds]

I was born in 1985 so none.

Congrats on being the youngest person on this board though. 

 

[MAC_32]

I was born in 1985 so none.

We only know disorder and disarray when it comes to federal politics, but disorder and disarray aptly explains the makeup of our society so it is exactly what we should expect from leadership. The only difference now vs then is the misinformed have a larger megaphone to spew their nonsense.

 

[AAABatteries]

I’d say there’s a lot of different aspects to being a good POTUS.  All have good and bad on their balance sheet.  All were flawed both as POTUS and as human beings.  I’d probably have Clinton and Reagan up there.  

 

[sho nuff]

Those that I remember.  Reagan for a potion and George HW Bush are up there.  HW probably the last to do something he knew would likely cost him re-election but it was what was best for the country when he went against his no new taxes promise.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Reagan.  He fundamentally altered the way that people think about government and meaningfully changed the trajectory of the country.  People can reasonably disagree about whether that change was good or not, but Reagan himself certainly would have been happy about it.  He's probably the only president in my lifetime who could fairly feel like he accomplished what he set out to accomplish by the time he left office.  

Obama was pretty solid too, but there's a huge gulf between him and Reagan.  To put it in context, Obama's signature policy accomplishment was something that originated in Reagan-era conservative think tanks and got popularized by Mitt Romney.  Which kind of goes to show how significant Reagan was compared to everybody else.  

Then you've got an assortment of one-termers, sexual predators, and guys like W who it's hard to believe actually got two terms.  Now that I think about it, George W Bush probably holds the role of median president for folks my age, which is pretty sad.  Reagan, Obama, and GHWB were clearly better IMO, while Carter, Trump, and Biden were/are worse.  So in the median we get a two-term failed president whose second term seemed to go on forever, and a guy who's biggest accomplishment is preying on the low self-esteem of slightly overweight undergraduates. 

Edit: Technically I should have included Nixon and Ford in there too.  Nixon would live near the bottom, above Trump but below everybody else.  Ford is "meh, whatever."

 

[sho nuff]

Reagan.  He fundamentally altered the way that people think about government and meaningfully changed the trajectory of the country.  People can reasonably disagree about whether that change was good or not, but Reagan himself certainly would have been happy about it.  He's probably the only president in my lifetime who could fairly feel like he accomplished what he set out to accomplish by the time he left office.  

Obama was pretty solid too, but there's a huge gulf between him and Reagan.  To put it in context, Obama's signature policy accomplishment was something that originated in Reagan-era conservative think tanks and got popularized by Mitt Romney.  Which kind of goes to show how significant Reagan was compared to everybody else.  

Then you've got an assortment of one-termers, sexual predators, and guys like W who it's hard to believe actually got two terms.  Now that I think about it, George W Bush probably holds the role of median president for folks my age, which is pretty sad.  Reagan, Obama, and GHWB were clearly better IMO, while Carter, Trump, and Biden were/are worse.  So in the median we get a two-term failed president whose second term seemed to go on forever, and a guy who's biggest accomplishment is preying on the low self-esteem of slightly overweight undergraduates. 

Yeah...I have Reagan and HW right there with each other   Followed up by Clinton, Obama...then W Bush in the middle before you get to the Carter, Trump Biden administrations.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

If Trump would have stayed off Twitter and learned to be more compassionate and presidential I would have said him but I cannot. 

I’ll go with Reagan but only because I wasnt around for Eisenhower. 

 

[djmich]

The perfect president?

Reagan's policy/direction accomplishments (understand this is probably subject to most disagreement)

Obama's charisma and inspiration (man he could have been a bigger uniter)

Carters humanity

GW's relatability

Clintons moderation (political, not personal)

Trumps willingness to challenge the status quo (please don't interpret that as support of everything he challenged)

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Reagan

Bush 41

JFK

Bush 43

Ford

Trump

Clinton

Obama

Nixon

LBJ

Carter

Biden

 

[crackattack]

Clinton 

 

[rustycolts]

You guys know my top 3. Here is how I rank the rest.

Bush #1 stood by his principals

Clinton  economy 2nd term

Johnson  not a good person but for what he tried to do for civil rights

Ford because he helped get us transition through a very tough time.

Trump not a good person but liked his policies 

Bush #2

Obama personally think he was decisive still is.

Nixon nuff said

Carter good man really all I can say

Biden career politician who has caused my egg Mcmuffins to go over 4 bucks a piece. 

 

[Joe Mammy]

That's an easy one for me. The only president who directly impacted my personal well being and quality of life is Barrack Obama.

Obamacare saved my life- or at least quality of life. I was denied insurance for pre-existing conditions. When Obamacare came along everyone had to be insured. I got my health insurance (finally after being denied for years).

Then the inevitable happened. 4 hospital trips, 2 being emergency. 4 surgeries. The hospital bills were staggering. Without Obamacare we would have been wiped out.

Thank you very much Obama!

 

[Boston]

Reagan.  He fundamentally altered the way that people think about government and meaningfully changed the trajectory of the country.  People can reasonably disagree about whether that change was good or not, but Reagan himself certainly would have been happy about it.  He's probably the only president in my lifetime who could fairly feel like he accomplished what he set out to accomplish by the time he left office.  

Obama was pretty solid too, but there's a huge gulf between him and Reagan.  To put it in context, Obama's signature policy accomplishment was something that originated in Reagan-era conservative think tanks and got popularized by Mitt Romney.  Which kind of goes to show how significant Reagan was compared to everybody else.  

Then you've got an assortment of one-termers, sexual predators, and guys like W who it's hard to believe actually got two terms.  Now that I think about it, George W Bush probably holds the role of median president for folks my age, which is pretty sad.  Reagan, Obama, and GHWB were clearly better IMO, while Carter, Trump, and Biden were/are worse.  So in the median we get a two-term failed president whose second term seemed to go on forever, and a guy who's biggest accomplishment is preying on the low self-esteem of slightly overweight undergraduates. 

Edit: Technically I should have included Nixon and Ford in there too.  Nixon would live near the bottom, above Trump but below everybody else.  Ford is "meh, whatever."

Easily Reagan for me…you touched on a lot of it but one thing you didn’t mention was he was able to give the country pride, hope and optimism again after the Nixon debacle and just four dreadful years of an over his head Jimmy Carter…for those old enough to be around the Carter administration we remember a lifeless administration that was being pushed around by Iran, had gas lines and by his own admission had a crisis in confidence as he openly said in his malaise speech…Reagan reversed this and to this day some of his speech’s still give me chills.