Who was the worst President of your lifetime?

I had a really awesome elementary school principal. She knew everyone’s name by heart

Winnie if thats the only thing memorable, obviously your judgement is cloudy

Do you really not remember the Camp David accords?

You may still conclude he was the worst, but you should brsuh up your memory before making that conclusion.

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And while you are at it, you can also tell us who the first president was that you remember.

Lilmod Ulelamaid…………..

The first US President I remember was Dwight Eisenhower.

He was also one of the worst and most ineffective Presidents in my lifetime.

He was a war hero who was courted by both parties and sold out to the Republicans. He brought us that vile right wing VP Tricky Dick Nixon…the only US President to ever have to resign the office.

Eisenhower enriched the Military/Industrial complex at the expense of the ordinary citizens. He spent major periods of time playing golf and/or recuperating from heart attacks at his farm while the Dulles brothers led us to ruin.

He got us involved in French Indo-China (Viet Nam) allowed screwball Senator McCarthy to ruin the lives of countless American Jews (among others) with his blacklists and the kangaroo court HUAC hearings.

Nothing good came out of his administration.

The Presidency of Bill Clinton was the best I’ve lived through. I admit my bias having known both Clintons personally since their days at Yale Law School. There was great prosperity in the land. Minorities made major achievements socially and economically. There was general peace, our troops had little active engagement overseas. I liked his judicial appointments and other policies.

It was the last time our government operated for a year with a balanced budget.

Personally, I never lost so much money and had such lousy business experiences as in both Bush administrations. These Republicans were not good for business, as opposed to being good for their WASP elite friends and the Saudi Royal family. They used brother Jeb to steal the 2000 election and always hide the fact the brother Neil cost US taxpayers millions in the bailout of Siverado Savings and Loan. Laura was a drunk who committed vehicular homicide and was then first lady, so how can we complain about what Trump is bringing in as the next first ‘lady?’ I am embarrassed to be from the same hometown as GW Bush..both born in Grace New Haven Hospital during the post WWII baby boom.

Joseph, who was yours?

Obama was the worst and Trump will iy’h be the best.

Winnie……….

I’m no fan of Carter, I don’t trust evangelicals in general.

That said, Carter did not give away the Sinai, Begin did. Carter hosted and facilitated the Camp David meetings and accords, but he did not have to power to give away land that did not belong to the USDA or was not under its control.

Did he exert influence? Yes, but the decision in the ed was that of the Israeli and Egyptian governments and their respective leaders.

I’m not sure if winning or losing reelection is a good test for how good or bad a president is. Circumstances have a major effect (e.g. the Great Depression with Hoover, the Iran hostage situation with Carter, 9/11 with G.W. Bush).

CTL, I disagree with your characterization of Nixon as right wing. He normalized relations with China and he instituted wage-price controls. Those are not right wing policies. IMHO, he was the worst president, probably ever. I don’t think it’s fair to blame Eisenhower for Nixon. Probably Johnson’s Vietnam debacle is most responsible for the rise of Nixon, and it’s a stretch to blame either of LBJ’s predecessors for the way he handled the situation.

Winnie (and iacarsima)

I wasn’t arguing on your choice of Carter (though I think bush was worse based on the economy and the constant state of fear/ war that began under his watch)

All I’m saying is that if you can only remember one event from his presidencythen you aren’t a fair judge. If after reviewing several facets you come to the same conclusion, ok that is an opinion grounded in fact.

As for the best. Without question, Clinton based on the peace and economic prosperity under his watch.

ubiquitin- thanks for explaining what you meant. and my choice of Carter was not based on just the one event, just that one stands out as the most obvious reason for him to win that category, in my opinion. But I am not an expert in history or politics, so my opinion is just that, an opinion.

So to summarize, some people are judging worst based on character, some on policies, and some on the long-term ramifications of their presidencies.

But only one vote for best president, as far as I can see. That doesn’t bode well for the state of the union…

Best in my lifetime is probably Reagan with Clinton a close second.

Lol joseph you are funny!

“As previously stated, the economic prosperity came under the watch of the Republican Congress. And it is Congress, NOT the President, that has the Constitutional power of the purse.”

“Ronald Reagan was the best by a longshot. Economic revival from the Carter inflationary years”

the Democrats had the house during the entirety of Reagen’s presidency and the senate as well during his second term.

As for Bush

The war in IRaq placed left an unchecked Iran (As Cheney predicted in 92′ would happen) so unless you think the world is more stable with Iran unchecked than with IRaq in power (which is certainly a plausible opinion though not one most would agree with )the Iraq war was a disastrous mistake.

Of course Bush being the best for ISrael is only factual if you forget about his reaction’s to the “massacre” in Jenin, his call to divide Yerushalyim (first President to do so) among others. Granted he was better than Reagan who was first to recognizethe PLO and for supporting The Security council’s condemnation for Israel’s attacking IRaq’s nuclear facitlty.

Joseph

“As far as W. and the Jews, he clearly was the best friend we’ve had in a very long time in the Oval Office. Even you couldn’t make another President who you could plausibly claim better, with any cited evidence.”

I definitely can.

However It depends on what you mean by “good for Israel”

I think pressuring Israel to give up land for nothing in return is bad for Israel. Bush did that (Gush Katif) Obama has not. (Yes I know some Bush lovers pretend he did no such thing, spare me it wasnt that long ago) Dont forge tthe 2003 withholding of loan gaurantees as “punishment” for “illegal” construction in the west bank. and of course Bush calling for an international investigation after the Battle of Jenin.

IF you define good for ISrael as supporting militarily

again OBama was better than Bush. For example Bush refused to sell “bunker buster” bombs which Obama did. Bush’s Pentagon’s response to requests for Iron Dome was “Frosty” (WSJ 11/26/12) Obama of course pushed it through saving many Jewsih lives, Zul er zein gezunt un shtark. Military cooperation has increased.

If you define Good for Israel as support in the U.N.

Care to gues how many security council resolutions agaisn tISrael Obama let pass?

Ok i’ll tell you. It is zero. Not even one. Under W? 6 deemed by Israelis to be “one sided”

Guess when the first s.c. resolution calling for two staes passed? Ok ill tell you 2002. guess who was PResident?

now granted if your sole descriptor of “good for Israel” is the warmth of relationship betweent the P.M. and PResident, I’ll Grant Bush and Sharon had a far better relationship then Obama and Netanyahu (who openly campaigned for his opponent) However if you are looking for anything of substance I beleive I have cited plenty of evidence.

And no I’m not a chassid of Dick Cheney. Though even he can be right from time to time and he was right in 92 not in 2001. Even your party’s nominee realises that now, he also said that bush should have been impeached. A view clearly not repudiated by to many in your party based on the results of the primaries..

Joseph………….

Nixon was a lousy Jew Hating Senator and VP before he was a dishonest Jew Hating President. He had terrible judgment in picking his VP Spiro T Agnew of Maryland…thus giving us the only President of the US who had to resign also having a VP who had to resign.

His domestic policy was terrible, his foreign policy was often brilliant, but he was POTUS not Secretary of State and as such he was a loser

On the other hand, Nixon’s bombing of Cambodia also help end the Vietnam War saving thousands of American lives. Nixon bombed Cambodia because the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong had been using Cambodia as a “safe zone” where they would flee to recover and rearm knowing that the Americans wouldn’t bomb them there (and even attack American and South Vietnamese Troops from Cambodian soil). The Americans bombed the North Vietnamese that were in Cambodia, not the entire country. The lack of Cambodian safe zone and the bombing of Ho Chi Mihn City helped bring North Vietnam to the negotiating table to sign the Paris Peace Accords in early 1973.

To say that the bombing of Cambodia “led to the rise of Khmer Rouge” is historical speculation. Khmer Rouge pre-existed the bombing and received direct help from the North Vietnamese in overthrowing the government. Arguably, the opposite is true. If Nixon hadn’t been under investigation because of Watergate and hadn’t been frustrated by Congress with the Case-Church amendment, Nixon would have prevented Khmer Rouge from taking Cambodia. There is simply no way to know one way or the other.

While Nixon certainly had some classic Anti-semitic prejudices, he also saved the state of Israel and millions of Jewish lives by re-arming the Israeli Defense Forces in the middle of the Yom Kippur War.

Carter.

I think GWB was a great guy, but he didn’t execute the right policies. For that, I think he did a worse job than Bill Clinton and Obama. I’ll always vote Republican, but the Iraq war was a total disaster.

Christie would have been the best president ever, except for GWB.

George Washington

Jimmy Carter