George W Bush: Top Ten EVER?!? (2 Viewers)

[RABDOG]

bush is worst ever, worst than woodro wilson, worst than anybody that you could name.

 

[MSUSousaphone]

And easier to spell.

Shawn, I meant more of, no one has really lived through the times of all the President's. We just have what history tells...and sometimes it leaves out things...or adds some.

 

[SWJJ]

Bush is not the worst ever, but he is certainly not in the top 10 best ever.

Without "breaking it down," I would probably put him in the bottom quarter (worst 10-12ish).

However my reasons are probably different than the way you guys rank him. We all probably have different views of what's important.

IE peace, stability, world influence, technology, Economy strength, standard of living, military prowess, how well off are the worst of us.

There are countless different ways of determining what is the most important criteria to judge presidents.

Personally, I want liberty and freedom protected, and the government to not become overgrown, nor too powerful.

So with the medicade bill, an incrediablely unbalanced budget, the reduction of liberties in the patriot act, the invasion of our country at its sourthern border, and the way we continue to fail to secure that border, the inability of "disastaster relief" He will not be viewed very well from my perspective, history be damned.

This is coming from someone who voted for him twice.

The only thing that has been worse for this country tha President Bush is, the-take-power-at-all-costs-to-the-nation, democratic senate that opposses any thing at all the president may try to do right, and willingfully turn a blind eye with him to the problems they could work together and fix.

But instead of solving problems they want to make them worse and blame them all on bush...

/I hate politicians nowadays...

 

[LSSpam]

The only ranking of President's I would pay heed to would be one from someone over 250 years old. Otherwise you just don't know...

They write history books and stuff

 

[thewyrm]

I think most would agree that U.S. Grant was the worst president ever. He was a weak willed president who let his horribly corrupt cabinet control him and the whitehouse his entire term.

The best president was Thomas Jefferson and it isn't even close.

 

[The SAINTaholic]

IMHO, it's way too early to rank GB....... I'll admit, there's been quite a few questionable decisions he's made durring his presidency; but give the guy some credit here when comparing him to other presidents; after all, what other president has been confronted with as many "obsticles" as he has (both politically, humanitarianly, as well with natural disasters)...No other president in my opinion has had to make the same type of decisions under the same type of circumstances that he has..... But once again, Im not saying that I've agree'd with every decision he's made, Im just basically saying that in my opinion I dont think any other president has had this much to deal with durring their presidency.... All I have to say is that out of any presidents (past / present), it's GB's that I would NEVER want to be in.

 

[UptownSaintsFan]

i don't think there is really any plausible argument that could put bush in the top 10 ever. this is because there are at least 10 presidents who have done something that has either defined this country or changed the country for the better. unless bush can somehow pull a rabbit out of his hat with the whole war on terror and give everyone an "I told you so" or "I was right" down the line, i just don't see anything that would warrant him being in the top half of presidents.

that being said, i did vote for him, and i regret (though mostly because of the response to katrina) so you can say i am bitter or i'm not, i'm just not sure.

 

[thewyrm]

. . . I dont think any other president has had this much to deal with durring their presidency....

Washington: Had to help create a brand new nation.
Adams: Had to face constant strife within his party questioning his leadership.
Jackson: Constantly fought with the supreme court.
Lincoln: That whole war between the states thing.
Johnson: Had to fight off a call for impeachment.
Hoover: That whole great depression thing.
F. Roosevelt: That whole great depression thing and that whole world war 2 thing.
Kennedy: Stood up to near global destruction.
Reagan: Fought off the Cold War

And that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure if I tried I could find more info about what some of the other presidents had to put up with. I'm not saying he has had it easy, but most unique set of difficulties ever for a president? Not even close.

 

[daybreaker]

I would say that a world struggling with industrialization and modernization is a much tougher thing to deal with than anything W has had to face.

W's biggest frustration is that we are in the information age. He cant just tell us Iraq is bad and is about to attack us, and have us believe him, because we have a global information network and greater access to information than ever before. If he were a president in the 19th century, no doubt we would think he was great, because he fended off the swarm of muslims trying to destroy the US... but since we know better (most of us) in the 21st century, we can tell he's a stubborn single-minded warmongeror

 

[cruize]

If you defend President Bush, you're a partisan Republican through and through. He's the worst President in our history. He's been horrible for our nation and the rest of the world. That's not easy to do. And by the way, if President Bush was a Democrat, I would say the exact same thing.

 

[Shockmo]

If you defend President Bush, you're a partisan Republican through and through. He's the worst President in our history. He's been horrible for our nation and the rest of the world. That's not easy to do. And by the way, if President Bush was a Democrat, I would say the exact same thing.

So basically, if someone doesn't agree with your opinon they are partisan hacks, or stupid or sheep, or whatever you want to call them?

I'm not trying to call you out or anything, but is anyone else tired of these posts that basically say "this is what I think and if you don't agree with me then you're just stupid?"

Can't we just give our own opinion and reasoning and let everyone else make up their own minds? Just because one of us has an opinion doesn't mean differing opinions are wrong. That judgement is reserved for facts (2+2=4). Varying opinions are what makes this country great. That and the fact that we have the freedom to express them.

 

[Shawn]

If a President puts forth an agenda, and that agenda fails miserably, you cannot claim that history will vindicate him.

In other words, if a President comes into office on a platform of reform, shrinking the budget, reducing the size of the government etc, and the opposite happens--in what reality to you need 250 years to assess his performance?

And in the case of GWB, he professed an emphatic opposition to nation building.

Even if GWB's Iraq policy succeeds beyond his wildest expectations, his domestic failures are so astounding that he could never be assessed as a great President. I'll grant you that much of his legacy will depend on the outcome in Iraq. But his ceiling is lowered, and failure in Iraq still has the potential to assess him as one of the worst Presidents ever. I suspect that won't happen, simply because any negative outcome in Iraq will be put on the shoulders of his successors. Lucky for him.

History could treat him kindly and consider him OK. But never, ever would there be justification for calling him great. He has not only failed to build consensus for his aims across party lines--he has rarely been able to build consensus among his own party.

He's only lucky that Harriet Miers wasn't confirmed for the Supreme Court. Put that one next to Brownie, and I think there's a pattern that historians would have loved.

 

[RABDOG]

Bush is not the worst ever, but he is certainly not in the top 10 best ever.

Without "breaking it down," I would probably put him in the bottom quarter (worst 10-12ish).

However my reasons are probably different than the way you guys rank him. We all probably have different views of what's important.

IE peace, stability, world influence, technology, Economy strength, standard of living, military prowess, how well off are the worst of us.

There are countless different ways of determining what is the most important criteria to judge presidents.

Personally, I want liberty and freedom protected, and the government to not become overgrown, nor too powerful.

So with the medicade bill, an incrediablely unbalanced budget, the reduction of liberties in the patriot act, the invasion of our country at its sourthern border, and the way we continue to fail to secure that border, the inability of "disastaster relief" He will not be viewed very well from my perspective, history be damned.

This is coming from someone who voted for him twice.

The only thing that has been worse for this country tha President Bush is, the-take-power-at-all-costs-to-the-nation, democratic senate that opposses any thing at all the president may try to do right, and willingfully turn a blind eye with him to the problems they could work together and fix.

But instead of solving problems they want to make them worse and blame them all on bush...

/I hate politicians nowadays...

and what praytell has he done right?...i would oppose anything this guy trys to do until we can finally be rid of him...we don't need any more catistrophic deeds by this worst ever president.

 

[TDH]

Lol, Reagan is number 2! No wonder AOL is going to the pitts.

 

[SWJJ]

and what praytell has he done right?...i would oppose anything this guy trys to do until we can finally be rid of him...we don't need any more catistrophic deeds by this worst ever president.

I am fond of his judicial appointments, I believe the tax cuts helped stave off the young recession he inheritied from the clinton era, and it also helped with the economic struggles post 9-11,

even people who are against the Iraq war feel the Afganistan conflicts were good, they destablized Bin Laden's organization and overall ability to make war.

He also made efforts to do other good things but was completely railroaded by the Dems and the media. For example Social Security reform,

I am sorry but allowing people to invest 1/4 of thier social security privately as they see fit is not "taking away old peoples social security " as the dems tried to demonize it.
The voucher programs for education I though was a good idea to make education better..



Just as people who feel george bush can do no wrong are simply partisan bush lovers,

The Montra that W did nothing right is an equally partisan POV.

its almost never plain black and white.