The best and worst US presidents

[Maximus]

List who you think are the best and worst US presidents, no particular order. List as many as you want, give reasons if you feel like it.

I'll get started

Best
Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Franklin D Roosevelt
James Polk
Ted Roosevelt

Worst
George W Bush
John Tyler
Warren Harding
Herbert Hoover
James Buchanan

[Maximus]

I wonder how Obama will be viewed a few years from now, regardless if he wins a second term or not.

[PaddyJoe]

I find it difficult to muster up any interest in US politics. Has there really been any hugely significant changes in US foreign policy over the couple of decades since the end of the Cold War?

[joekilgobinet]

Best
Lyndon B Johnson
Bill Clinton
Ronald Reagan
Abraham Lincoln


Worst
Warren Harding
Richard Nixon
George HW Bush
George W Bush

[Count Bobulescu]

Here’s a serious candidate for a place in the top 10. Obama has gotten a big electoral bounce coming out of the conventions, and commentators are already talking about Clinton’s speech to the DNC as being a turning point in the election.

Bill Clinton’s face doesn’t appear on Mount Rushmore, and he doesn’t have a monument bearing his name in Washington, D.C. That much we know.
But judging by the reaction to the former president these days, it seems some are ready to mention him in the same breath as some of those bronze and stone statues.

Clinton served up the best-reviewed speech of the 2012 convention season on Wednesday, cementing his status as perhaps the preeminent force in American politics nearly 12 years after his presidency ended.

A stunning 69 percent of Americans in a Gallup poll released this week rated him favorably — a number higher than ever been before, even at the height of his presidential popularity. And his address Wednesday will likely only add to the growing nostalgia for his terms in office.

Given that popularity, it’s pretty reasonable to ask whether Clinton will be remembered as one of the greatest presidents ever.
And while he’s not there yet, it’s trending strongly in that direction.
Opinion polls of the best commanders-in-chief tend to favor more recent presidents. A 2011 Gallup poll asked Americans who the best president ever was, and Ronald Reagan and Clinton filled two of the top three slots — ahead of consensus great presidents including George Washington, John F. Kennedy and both Roosevelts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ts-in-history/

[Saoirse go Deo]

Surely he is forever tainted by the genocides which went on while he stood idly by.

[Count Bobulescu]

Surely he is forever tainted by the genocides which went on while he stood idly by.

All presidents have negatives, inaction is seen as less damaging as negative action. He is at least the current master of reducing complex arguments to digestible format for the broader public. Many say he is much better at advocating for Obama's policies, than Obama himself.

[riposte]

Surely he is forever tainted by the genocides which went on while he stood idly by.

I don't know about the genocides but he is tainted by Monica's dress.

However .... he is the only American President in History to take any interest in Irish Affairs ........ and .....he delivered The Good Friday Agreement. You could say .. "He achieved the Impossible."