Who was the greatest President in your lifetime?

[Polybius]

The rules are simple. This poll is about who was the greatest President in your lifetime, not before you were born.

I'm not putting any Republicans on the list except Eisenhower, because none besides him in the past 100+ years deserve to be on the list (Ford wasn't terrible I suppose, but no one is picking him as #1).

With that being said, who's it gonna be?

67 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	FDR
	3 (4%)
	Harry Truman
	0 (0%)
	Dwight Eisenhower
	0 (0%)
	JFK
	8 (12%)
	LBJ
	5 (7%)
	Jimmy Carter
	4 (6%)
	Bill Clinton
	4 (6%)
	Barack Obama
	25 (37%)
	Joe Biden
	18 (27%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[liberal N proud]

1. If you look at their actions past the office it would be Carter

[Polybius]

2. Hmm, that's a great consideration

I was thinking more of their job as President, however.

[Johonny]

7. Had the nation listened to Carter . . .

He was 60 years ahead of the time

[nightwing1240]

11. I agree re Jimmy Carter

Great great man

[Solly Mack]

3. I'm hoping the greatest is yet to come within my lifetime.

That is not to say there haven't been those who deserve the title so far, but I'm not ready to say someone has been the greatest ever in my lifetime since my life/time is still fluid. Things can always be better.

[hlthe2b]

4. If I count post-Presidency and prescient steps that could have made all our lives

better today, even though he faced ridicule for them, then it is Jimmy Carter hands down. Sans Carter's post-presidency actions and accomplishments counting, then Obama should get the nod

Bill Clinton was effective-- no doubt-- but some of his accomplishments are coming back to bite us (and have done so over the decades since). That includes aspects of welfare reform, student loans (he signed off on the exclusion in bankruptcy), and his deregulation of telecommunication that allowed for the likes of Rupert Murdoch to buy up cross-media outlets, coalescing in a single near-monopoly. So, I see him in a more complex and nuanced lens.

[aaaaaa5a]

5. President Barack Obama

He saved the country from what literally would have been a great depression. FDR is credited with getting us out of one. So what about the guy who PREVENTED a great depression from happening?

Saved the USA Auto Industry. (And the Government profited in providing help)

Ended the War in Iraq. (Remember what a big deal that was?)

Killed Bin Laden. (The USA's number one terrorist for two administrations and most dangerous man in the world)

Sacrificed his Presidency for the Affordable Care Act (Saved countless lives, and will be the building block for health care for all.)

People quickly forget how bad the country was doing in 2008 when he took office. And how much better the country and the world was when he left in 2017. Was the country better off 8 years after the Obama presidency compared to before. YES.

This question isn't even close.

Oh... I almost forgot. SCANDAL FREE FOR EIGHT YEARS! Minus the tan suit of course.

[Happy Hoosier]

6. Probably Obama.... but...

we'll see how Jor rounds it out. Obama was more charismatic and a far more inspiring speaker, but Biden is a political pro and has managed some pretty big accomplishments so far.

[Lunabell]

8. I chose Biden.

I had to think a minute because Obama was such a good president and his accomplishments were really fantastic. But, I love Joe's scrappy and pugilistic nature. Obama had such a gentle countenance but President Biden's response to republicans is more my style.

[meadowlander]

9. Al Gore

[Crazyleftie]

10. FDR was before my "lifetime" otherwise

I would have voted for him...
I wish the question was phrased differently.
The two greatest programs enacted were
social security FDR
medicare LBJ

so I probably should vote based on these two, But LBJ on viet nam cancels that vote

[Polybius]

12. I'm thinking about doing another poll

Perhaps a greatest President of all time poll.

[Celerity]

17. Lincoln

[Johnny2X2X]

13. I gave the nod to Biden

But people in the thread are making a pretty good case for Obama, he did save the auto industry and save us from a Depression.

Biden to me, saved us from Fascism by beating Trump. Helped get Covid under control. Saved us from a Depression with the American Rescue plan. And then his other legislative achievements are immense as well. Bipartisan infrastructure bill was sorely needed and is a huge deal. The Climate Bill gets back on the path to zero net emissions. The Burn Pit Bill and Chips bills were huge investments in our vets and in a sector of the economy that we really needed to invest in. And then he helped Dems with one of the most successful midterms in the last 100 year. And more than all of that, he returned dignity to the White House, reestablished American leadership abroad, and took stands against the world's dictators that Trump couldn't help by coddle and capitulate to.

Glad to see Carter getting some due, he was truly ahead of his time.

[BlueCheeseAgain]

14. I think all three recent Dem presidents have been excellent.

President Obama got us the ACA (a big f***ing deal, as someone noted), pulled us out of the Great Recession, and was a tremendous role model as well. The only complaint I have is that he was not a great partisan leader, perhaps believing (nobly) that the president should be above that.

President Clinton presided over a time of great prosperity and peace. His efforts to bring peace to the world were impressive-- Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and Kosovo come to mind. He was agonizingly close in the eternal Arab-Israeli conflict too. Unfortunately, his personal weaknesses detract a fair bit from his later effectiveness.

President Biden has only been president for two years, but he has done more with less than any president of memory. He's gotten a tremendous amount of consequential legislation through a 50-50 Senate and a very slim majority in the House. We'll see what happens next.

In the end, I voted for President Obama in the poll.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

18. Went with Obama as well

But I have to admit that the Clinton years were pretty amazing for me.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

22. The Clinton years were superlative ones for me as well.

At this juncture, I guess I'd go with Obama.

However, if he is able to come close to maintaining the trajectory of his first two years, over the next six, Joe Biden is on pace to it a close call.

We have been fortunate.

Hell, even LBJ--who gets dinged for Vietnam (with just cause)--had a record of accomplishment on the domestic front that is breathtaking otherwise.

[Raine]

15. Jimmy Carter was the BEST person to ever be President

as far as great they all have their pluses and minuses. Hopefully the greatest is yet to come.

[48656c6c6f20]

16. I'm seriously jealous

We have a few that were around for FDR. God that must have been so cool. He's my What the Democratic Party should have been president. Everything has been watered down since then.

[First Speaker]

19. JFK, for one specific reason...

...I believe that anyone else in the White House in October, 1962, would have given way to the pressure from the Joint Chiefs and attacked Cuba. We now know that the Russians had already placed missiles in there that could have hit the continental US, and that the local commanders had the authority to launch. Kennedy single-handedly saved the world from nuclear armageddon. That, automatically, makes him the greatest President of my, or any, lifetime...

[maxsolomon]

20. LBJ gets my vote. I was an infant/toddler and don't remember any of it, though.

Because of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights laws he shoved through Congress, twisting their ears till they complied, like they were one of his beagles.

He killed Jim Crow.

[mainer]

21. LBJ doesn't get enough credit

Without him, we might never have Medicare or Medicaid.

[wnylib]

23. Very tough call.

LBJ on civil rights, Medicare, and domestic programs, but not on Vietnam.

JFK for preventing nuclear holocaust. Also, if he had lived, our involvement in Vietnam would have ended much sooner.

Obama for the ACA, saving the auto industry, preventing the Great Recession from becoming a depression, and setting an example of human decency in office. Not to mention standing up with great dignity against Republican racism.

Biden for standing firmly against current fascism, which is a BFD to me. The courage to end our presence in Afghanistan and miraculously get thousands of people evacuated on short notice against the odds. Getting vaccinations out to people quickly, and getting some control over the number of covid deaths and amount of spreading. Infrastructure bill. Sounding the alarm about Russia and Ukraine and uniting the world in defending democracy against Russian attempts to destroy it in Ukraine, in the US, and in other countries. His outspoken condemnation of MAGA fascism.

I wavered between Obama and Biden, but went for Biden.

ON EDIT: For best overall human being and a pretty damned good president, too, I would say Jimmy Carter.

[Genki Hikari]

24. I have three categories for this

Domestic policy: LBJ. It's not even a close contest with that. Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act--Even one of those would have been considered enough for greatest President status. It was his awful Vietnam policies that ultimately destroyed him.

Foreign policy: Obama. He got our allies back after GDub nearly blew up the postwar peace we had taken for granted. Knew how to be tough, when it mattered.

Overall: Biden