Of the presidents who served after you turned 18, how would you rank them?

[Onlooker]

I would rank them like this:

(1) Obama (based on his first 100 days)
(2) Clinton (slowed the Reagan Revulsion)
(3) Ford (The most innocuous president)
(4) Carter (Did great stuff on human rights, but otherwise messed up)
(5) Bush I (Relatively harmless, except for the Gulf War)
(6) Nixon (A crook, but overall moderate in politics)
(7) Bush II (A fool and warmonger)
(8) Reagan (An activist bigot and warmonger)

Obama is the first true liberal president in my adult life. While he's not perfect, we'd hard-pressed to find a more progressive person capable of winning over 50% of the electorate. Obama has exceeded my expectations by miles.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Obama #1 and Bush #2

I'd hardly consider Obama a true liberal progressive, though.

[muffin1]

6. You rank George W. as second best President?

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

8. His requirements were since turning 18

I'm 26. Bush was elected when I was 18.

Bush sucked. I liked Bill Clinton, but I wasn't 18 when he was president.

Read the whole OP before jumping on me next time, m'kay?

[muffin1]

11. Whew!

I thought something was amiss! I've read many of your posts, and always thought you were quite progressive.
Again, whew!:D

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

13. It's okay

[Zomby Woof]

28. slight correction

You were 18 when Bush was selected. ;-)

(not jumping on you, however!)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

30. Good point

[Zomby Woof]

36. I figured your 's' key was stuck

Damn typos!

[JayMusgrove]

18. I think it means s/he has been 18 for less than 10 yrs.

[sakabatou]

37. Same here with the rankings

[inthebrain]

2. I think they were all pretty bad

I don't really like politicians to begin with. I think they all serve one class of people and look to preserve the middle class and the myth of the middle class.

None of em seriously address the economic and social rot that exists in this country.

[harun]

46. I tend to agree. None of them did anything to move away from the military industrial

complex that needs war to survive. Carter IMHO did the best in that regard and had the best philosophy about it.

[Dawgs]

3. You are also correct about Obama being a true liberal.

Agree with everything else, except that I would take Reagan over Bush II.

[RaleighNCDUer]

34. While I do maintain that Bush II was worst president ever, I must

place him higher than Reagan - Reagan was for more dangerous in that he actually had a certain amount of charisma and could lull people along with his evil. Reagan could not have followed Bush II, because Bush II was so CLEARLY wrong in so many ways - but Bush II could, and did, follow Reagan because of the way Reagan sowed that field. In fact, Bush II would not have happened without Reagan - Reagan changed the game.

[marybourg]

4. I think that W was the WPE (worst president ever)

although I do think that Regan put into motion the policies that led us to where we are now.

[leftofthedial]

5. Jury is still out on Obama

Carter
Clinton
Ford
Nixon
George the First
George the Lesser
ronnie raygun


Those last four are four of the worst five ever.

[Skittles]

68. OK

I agree jury is WAY still out on Obama

Clinton
Carter
Ford
George the First
Nixon
Reagan
GWB

[leftofthedial]

79. I still say once you hit Ford,

the choice is between unbelievably awful and horrifically disastrous. The disgust, shock and disbelief make ranking really hard.

[Sparkly]

100. I agree...

Same rankings as yours.

[Lerkfish]

7. er.. you gotta be kidding me.

you put Ford over Carter? what are you, insane? Ford was on the Warren Commission, pardoned Nixon and accomplished absofrigging nothing except to fall down a lot.
Carter brokered the first, and only, mideast peace talks successfully.

Ford isn't worthy to unlatch Carter's sandals.

and Bush I relatively harmless? again, you're insane. Iran/contra, Desert Storm: the PR generated war, not to mention all his staff became his son's staff...

do you even understand politics? you keep giving republicans a pass on your list and trashing Carter? Carter was the first liberal president in your list...

[uppityperson]

9. Obviously, OP is insane

It is simple. Anyone who doesn't agree with you is insane.

[Lerkfish]

20. nah, don't go down that road and make this about me.

I mean "are you insane?" like you would say to someone in a conversation as you're disagreeing with them. Don't try to twist this into making me an intellectual bigot.

did you even read my post? are you in disagreement with my points?

do you feel Carter was a worse president than Ford? if so, what are your arguments? I at least had the intellectual decency to explain why I disagreed with the OP.

[uppityperson]

24. Here is my list, but am torn between Bush I&II since they were basically the same people

(1) Obama (based on his first 100 days)
(2) Carter
(3) Clinton
(4) Nixon
(5)Ford
(6)LBJ
(7/8/9) Bush II/ Bush I (who ran Reagan yrs so putting him and Reagan together here)

[Lerkfish]

35. I actually agree with your list

that's how I would rank them numerically, except that LBJ wasn't president after I was 18.

IMHO, the Reagan presidency was the same sort of puppet/puppeteer arrangment with Bush I was Veep that we had with little boots and Darth Cheney.

SO I count the reagan presidency as the dry run for the Bush I presidency.

[NYC_SKP]

61. Delete.

Wrong place. dammit.

[Oldtimeralso]

92. Close to mine

1 Obama
2 JFK (Johnny we hardly knew you)
3 Carter (too idealistic for his own good)
4 LBJ (just remember that I grew up with Chicago style politics Richard Daley not Richie, we all remember the Vietnam War but what about Civil Rights being pushed by a southerner)
5 Clinton ( probably the best president the GOP has had since Abe. Just look at his record on trade and budgets very much pre-Goldwater GOP)
6 Ford (played too much football without his helmet)
7 Nixon ( not just a crook but a lying crook )
8 Ray-gun (Bonzo had more brains,just a puppet)
9 & 10 America got Bushed once and had 2 rigged elections. GHWB a bit smarter than dimson.
Edited to add
Yes I know I'm old but still not senile!

[kevinds13]

56. Your "points" are opinions

and the fact that they differ from the OP doesn't make your post or the OP's better or worse.

[Lerkfish]

64. The OP was asking for opinions.

:shrug:

I assume that having an opinion about their opinions is also fair game.

[Onlooker]

38. I actually worked on the Carter campaign against Reagan

I was a paid field organizer, and I had a hard time arguing on behalf of Carter when it came to issue like: nukes and nuclear energy, urban anti-poverty programs, and his anti-Teamsters deregulation of the trucking industry (that helped create the Reagan Democrats). But, on making human rights a part of foreign policy and the Camp David Accords, it was easy to defend Carter. His domestic policy was not liberal. As President, Ford did less harm than Carter did, but Ford was pretty useless.

[Lerkfish]

65. Thanks for explaining your take on it.

I still think Carter was better than Ford, overall, and I'm at a loss as to recall anything Ford did that was good, and plenty that was bad. But we're all entitled to our opinions.

[niyad]

58. and let us not forget the savings and loan scandal that occupied so much of the 80's

I seem to remember that gulf war 1 started the day neil bush was supposed to face sentencing on his part in the silverado debacle.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. clinton and obama. i cant rank bush, he created his own scale of bad

i hope obama does better than clinton, but in the 100 days in, they seem similar in content to me.

[COLGATE4]

12. My rankings

LBJ #1
JFK #2
Obama #3
Ford #4
Carter #5
Nixon #6
DumbAss #5688

[The_Commonist]

14. I turned 18 two weeks after Reagan...

...was elected the first time.
My ranking goes like this:

Obama.

I didn't like any of the others.
Time will tell if he stays on my list.
(I have a feeling he will...)

[hileeopnyn8d]

22. Hey, me too!

I was pissed I couldn't vote that election.

[dmallind]

15. Only gives me five really

1) Clinton. Can't argue with the results, and don't care about his qualities as a husband - I ain't married to him.

2) Obama. Got all the right ingredients. Looking good so far, but ask me to promote him to #1 in 7+ years. Hope it's a yes.

3) Bush Sr. Blithely disconnected and with some strange ideas, but I really think he at least TRIED to help the country by his own lights, even though I would disagree with him on how.

4) Reagan. Jingoistic, barely rational and a dangerously slick salesman for the excesses of the right BUT he was at least capable of corrective action. He eventually caved to tax increases and didn't actually start any major wars no matter how much he threatened them.

5) Bush Jr. Sorry can't agree that Reagan was worse. This man had Reagan's brain but none of his malleability or (limited) introspection. Plus he surrounded himself with the most extreme of Reagan's cabal plus worse additions from his own, and was even more doctrinaire and dangerous than the Gipper. Just like Clinton, there is no arguing with results. His just went in the other direction.

[liberal N proud]

16. Obama, Clinton, Carter, Bush I, Reagan and Bu$h II

It was close for Reagan and bu$h II. Both fucked with things pretty bad in areas that effected me personally.

[Marrah_G]

17. Clinton, Obama, Bush1, Bush2

Obama could overtake Clinton at some point, but he is still new. I have faith he could never drop below the Bush's though.

[LostinVA]

19. My list:

1. Clinton
2. Obama
3. Poppy
4. Reagan
5. Bush

[mvd]

21. It's hard to judge Obama because Clinton didn't have the Bush II mess

So far:

Obama (more liberal than Clinton)
Clinton















Bush II (can't even put him close to the other two)

[DURHAM D]

23. Ok -

Clinton
Johnson
Kennedy
Eisenhower
Carter
Ford
Nixon
Bush I
Reagan
Bush II

No view on Obama - too early.

[Milspec]

76. Good listing

I have to strike Kennedy and Eisenhower from my list do to my age.

[Drunken Irishman]

25. #1 Obama #2 Bush

[Bicoastal]

26. Yer all old.

1. Obama




.




.




.




.




2. Bush

[islandgirl808]

31. I completely agree

y'all are old :hide:

Obama is definitely número uno.

[alwysdrunk]

103. This is a "show your age" thread, absolutely

Sshould have been since a teenager, or the Presidencies you can rememeber. Anyway:


Clinton
(Obama)
Bush


My rules:

Clinton
(Obama)
Bush I
Reagan
Bush II

Obama can't really count. I hate George W. Bush, but I didn't hate him after only 100 days.

[Zomby Woof]

27. 5

1. Obama (although who knows what the next 4-8 years will bring, and it is very early in his term, I am keeping optimistic)
2. Clinton (on balance the good outweighed the bad by a considerable sum - but what do I know? I actually enjoyed his memoir *shrug*)
3. Bush 1 (only had one term to do damage, so the highest ranking Republican on my list by default)
4. Reagan (I turned 18 early in his second term, which gave us such goodies as Iran-Contra, the '87 crash, the S&L implosion, and worsening dementia)
5. Bush 2 (Congratulations - he bested his great-uncle Franklin Pierce as the worst president ever - and he did it without actually being legitimately elected)

[La Lioness Priyanka]

29. Bush 1 (only had one term to do damage, so the highest ranking Republican on my list by default)

excellent point :thumbsup: also :rofl:

[Phx_Dem]

32. Obama, Clinton, Bush 1, Reagan, Bush II

Nixon, Ford, and Carter were before I turned 18

[Undercurrent]

33. .

Obama
LBJ (Except for his major detour into the mental illness that was Vietnam.)
Clinton
Carter
Ford
Nixon
Reagan
Bush I
Bush II

[TahitiNut]

39. JFK, Obama, Carter, Johnson, Clinton, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Bush41, .............. Bush43.

:shrug: In retrospect, of course.

[Political Heretic]

50. Wowzers. Any advice for me, elder?

Be gentle...

:)

[TahitiNut]

57. Sure ...

We learn from our mistakes.
But the learning can't begin until we see them as mistakes.

........ so sayeth TahitiNut.

:evilgrin:

[Political Heretic]

60. Nice. I like that.

:)

[falcon97]

94. Just curious....

Why Nixon ahead of Bush41? For what it's worth, I was born a year after Nixon resigned. So my rankings are: Obama, Clinton, Bush43.

[JayMusgrove]

40. There is really no one to compare with Obama.

Clinton was pretty good. Carter, too. Ford not so bad.

GWB and RMN have to vie for worst ever, but I think GWB wins hands down!

Nixon only tried to destroy the integrity of the Presidency, and failed. GWB and Cheney succeeded destroying it, where Nixon failed.

[Renew Deal]

41. Obama, Clinton, Bush

:shrug:

[Flying Dream Blues]

42. Here's mine

1. Obama
2. Clinton
3. Carter
4. Ford
5. Bush I
6. Reagan
7. Bush II

[Hellataz]

43. 1- Obama, 2- Clinton, Bushy and his dear ol' daddy don't even make the list.

[tabbycat31]

44. only 3

1) Obama (based on the first 100 days)
2) Clinton (I liked him but after I turned 18 was when he signed Glass Stegall, Monicagate, etc)
3) Bush (need I say more)

[damntexdem]

45. Obama

(1) Obama
(2) Johnson (could have been #1 based on 1965, but then betrayed us on Vietnam)
(3) Carter (smart but ineffective - but so much better at ineffective than others)
(4) Clinton (the best Republican president since Teddy Roosevelt ;-) )
(4) Ford (yeah, a place holder)
(5) Bush I (surprisingly harmless for a Bush)
(6) Nixon (a "moderate" but could have been a dictator had he & his plumbers not screwed up)
(7) Reagan (just barely ahead of Bush II)
(8) Bush II (not just the worst since I've been 18, nor of my life, but off all 43)

I would have liked to have rated JFK, but I wasn't old enough for your cut-off.

[hileeopnyn8d]

47. I think I have a three-way tie for the bottom

My list:

Obama
Clinton

The last three - Reagan, Bush I and Bush II are so interconnected that I have a hard time separating them. They shared too many of the same evil people in their administrations.

If pressed it would be:

Reagan
Bush I
Bush II

I understand considering Ford the most innocuous president, but I blame him for the rise of Cheney & Rumsfeld.

[Political Heretic]

48. Good thread. Perspective is very important. (1) Obama (2) Clinton (3) Bush Jr.

Again, requirements were to rank presidents who served since turning 18, so don't think of Bush as "3rd" think of him as "last" in my ranking.

What I wish we could all remember is that things are not either / or.

Obama is the most likely candidate for bringing about more significant change of my lifetime. But that does not mean criticism or advocacy should be silenced.

Obama's activity as president is complex. Some of it is great and a very big departure from previous conservative administrations. Some of us is not a departure at all and is in fact going in the wrong direction. Overall, he's basic vision and ideas is certainly more positive than any other administration of my lifetime, including the Clinton one. However, in some ways that only indicates how exceptionally narrow the spectrum of American politics really is.

The gap between "Better than" and "Good enough" is HUGE. He is better than his predecessors, he has a way to go to delivering policy and action as good as the American people deserve.

[Mass]

49. Obama, Carter... Clinton....., Bush41,Reagan .............. Bush43.\nt

[freddie mertz]

51. Carter was probably the best man...

... though his presidency was less than a success.

Obama is still early on, but doing reasonably well.

After that, it is Clinton, then a bunch of stinking repukes.

Of those, Nixon was the smartest, but evil and insane; Reagan the most politically skilled, but shallow and empty; Ford a marginal figure at best; Bush I an embarrassment, Bush II an unspeakable horror.

That about sums it up.

[POAS]

52. Interesting question

1. Carter (He gets a bum rap, good ideas, no cooperation and bad timing)
2. Kennedy (Died too soon)
3. Johnson (He got out at the right time.
4. Clinton (Might be higher except for NAFTA)
5. Obama (Expect him to move up fast)
6. Bush 41 (Would be lower except for Ford pardoning Nixon)
7. Ford (would be higher had he not pardoned Nixon)
8. Nixon (Penny ante thief compared to those below)
9. Reagan
10. Bush 43

[ccharles000]

53. ....

1-Obama

(I am 19)

[SteppingRazor]

54. Obama, Clinton, Bush. ... well! that was easy! n/t

[rufus dog]

55. I'll actually grade them too

1. Obama (A+)
2. Clinton (B)
3. Bush I (D)
4. Reagan (F)
5. Bush II (F-)

[grantcart]

59. Bush II is on the bottom by a mile

Reagan talked about wars, he started a few small actions in tiny countries, but he was smart enough to stay away starting any major conflict.

I liked Carter but then I was out of the country most of the time and the further away the better he looked.

[NYC_SKP]

62. Obama, Clinton, Cheney.....

GWB wasn't really president, Cheney was.

GWB was just a cowboy.

[Jennicut]

70. LOL. Dick was the real 43.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

63. I'm only 25, so this is going to look much worse than it is. But 1. Obama 2. Bush.

The gap between first and second there is huge though.

[GaYellowDawg]

66. After 18... that would start with 1988.

1) Clinton
2) Obama (although I consider his first 100 days to be a lot more successful, I will have to wait to see if he's a greater success overall)
3) George HW Bush
4) George W Bush

If it was for presidents I was old enough to pay attention to and keep up with current events, I'd rank them this way:

1) Clinton
2) Obama
3) Carter
4) Bush II (gets ranked over the other 2 Repubs b/c he had the courtesy to be a one-termer)
5) Reagan
6) W

Reagan and W are really bookends. You have the beginning and the end of Morning of Disaster in America.

[Politicalboi]

67. Mine are

Obama
Clinton
Reagan, Bush II, and Bush I, were all Bush I. Poppy the puppet master. One term yes, but harmless no way. He's the Godfather.

[Jennicut]

69. Obama, Clinton ,Bush

Its pretty obvious for me. I am 33.

[Arugula Latte]

71. Obama, Clinton, Bush 1, Reagan, Bush 2

Oh wait ... On edit, I wasn't 18 when Carter came along ... I would have ranked Carter above Clinton, though.

[tpi10d]

72. Bush/Cheney take up the rear.

Obama (based on 100 days)
Clinton
Carter
Ford
Nixon
Bush 1
Reagan
Bush II

[Uzybone]

73. Obama , Clinton, Bush....easy calls

Bush was horrible, Clinton was good but in retrospect seems like a place holder and handed the RW a big plate of shit to work with, Obama is transformative in a positive way.

[SteveG]

74. my rankings

(1) Obama
(2) Clinton
(3) Ford
(4) Carter (trapped himself with his rose garden strategy)
(5) Bush I
(6) Reagan
(7) Nixon
(8)Bush II (will go down as the worst in U.S. history, equivalent to Englands King John)

[cherish44]

75. Born in '67 here

Jury is still out on Obama but I'm positive he'll be in the top two

anyway others:

1. Clinton (I had a good 8 years as did much of the country, if the Republicreep Revolution hadn't fucked everything up, I think it would have been a GREAT eight years)

2. Three way tie Chimpy, PappaBush, and Raygun - All three were puppets for the forces of evil. I'd say Chimpy probably fucked things up the worst though. Congress consisted entirely of his minions of the darkside and spineless Dems who caved in at every turn.

[pink-o]

77. I know your game! You just want to out us as old :-)

But seriously, your amount of prez's is the same as mine! I turned 18 in December of 1972, so I couldn't vote for McGovern, something that pissed me off to no end, seeing as they had just lowered the voting age. But for what it's worth in my 54 years, here's my list, in order of best to worst.

Barack Obama
Bill Clinton
Jimmy Carter
Gerald Ford
Ronald Reagan
George H W Bush
Chimpy Idiot Dim Son War Monger Cheney-Puppet Sociopath who took 200-plus years of carefully built American ideals and destroyed them in 8.:grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke: :grr: :nuke:

[Two Americas]

78. like so...

1) Kennedy
2) Johnson
3) Carter
4) Obama
5) Clinton
6) Ford
7) Bush I
8) Nixon
9) Reagan
10) Bush II

[MilesColtrane]

80. .

1) Obama
2) Carter
3) Clinton
4) Bush I
5) Reagan
6) Bush II

[RubyDuby in GA]

81. I've only had 3, so it would be Obama, Clinton and in 4th place Asshat Placeholder from 2000-2008

[ObamaKerryDem]

106. "4th place Asshat Placeholder from 2000-2008"

Very good way to describe him! :toast:

[quiller4]

82. Here is my rank and Great Society pushes LBJ to top

Johnson
Obama
Carter
Clinton
Ford
Bush I
Nixon
Reagan
Bush II

[Honeycombe8]

83. Hmmm.

My choices are: Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. (It's too soon to rate Obama, although I think so far he's doing an outstanding job.)

Not much to choose from, so not surprisingly:

1. Clinton
2,3 - Bush Sr., Carter
4 - Reagan
5. Bush Jr.

Only Clinton was good (in a way...NAFTA ruins the record). The others were all bad, so I just chose in order of least bad to most bad.

The baddest of the bad? Hands down, Bush Jr.

[MrSlayer]

84. Clinton, Poppy, Chimp.

It's really too soon to rank Obama but I'm sure he'll end up at the top of the list.

[PurityOfEssence]

85. Carter, Clinton, Obama, Bush 1, Reagan, Bush 2

n/t

[cali]

96. Carter?

I love Carter as a man and ex-prez, but his record in office was not terribly impressive with but a couple of exceptions.

[frazzled]

86. Remember, you had to be 21 to vote until 1970

So I didn't get to vote when I was 18--which would have been in the Nixon-Humphrey election. We were all for Bobby Kennedy, though ... until that dark day.

Just saying, so all the whippersnappers don't think you could always vote at 18!

[Beacool]

87. Too soon to rate Obama

1. Clinton - most successful president in my lifetime

2. Johnson - great social programs, lousy war

3. Carter - decent man, but the least effective of my group

4. Ford - who? Didn't do much. I liked his wife a lot.

5. Bush Sr. - "read my lips" was his downfall

6. Reagan - never thought much of the man and I couldn't stand his wife

7. Nixon - a very bright man, pity that his inner demons ruined his presidency

8. Bush Jr. - a buffoon and intellectually lazy


:-)

[Beacool]

91. Oops, I goofed.

I did all the presidents in my lifetime, not since I was 18. Oh, well.......

:eyes:

[SKKY]

88. (1) Clinton (2) Obama (3) Bush 41 (4) Bush 43

[960]

89. Obama #1. GWB #2.

The only 2 since I was 18.


But I don't consider Obama to be a "true liberal". More of a pragmatic centrist, which usually gets better results.

[ShadowLiberal]

90. Lets see... (1) Bush, and too soon to rate: Obama, as I'm only 23

In a way I'm glad I couldn't vote in 2000, as I was still on the republican koolaid from growing up a family of republicans back then, and I'd hate to have to live with the regret of voting for Bush for the rest of my life.

But based on his first 100 days, yeah of course Obama is way better then Bush, and obviously Bush was one of the worst presidents ever.

[girl_interrupted]

93. Clinton, Obama & I always called gw bush "The Resident"

So he doesn't even count, the jerk. Not old enough, but FDR is still my favorite president of all times.

[Exilednight]

95. Interesting, but my list goes like this .........

(1) Obama - He's only been in office for a 100 days, but he's done more in a hundred days than any President since FDR.
(2) Bush I - I agree with the OP, relatively harmless and knew when to pull out of the Gulf.
(3) Clinton - I rank Clinton so low based on the fact that he never lived up to his potential. He wasted much of his political capital fighting off scandal after scandal.
(4) Bush II - Two wars, Katrina, torture, etc, etc, etc ..... He will go down as one of the worst Presidents in history.

[niceypoo]

97. Here goes.

In terms of actual accomplishments it would be:

Clinton - Balanced the budget, brokered peace in Bosnia, freed Kosovo, Mideast peace talks, etc
Obama - Is doing a bang-up job in the face of inheriting W's mess - Will see what he accomplishes
Ford - The last normal Republican
Nixon - He goes here by default because he missed going off the supply side deep end
Bush I
Reagan
W *dishonorable mention

[Arkana]

98. 1. Obama 2. Bush

[marimour]

99. 1. Obama 2. Bush

[Still Sensible]

101. Well, it's early yet for Obama, but based on so far

1. Obama
2. Clinton
3. Carter
4. Nixon
5. Bush 41
6. Ford
7. Reagan
8. Bush 43

[HooptieWagon]

102. Obama - incomplete, but B+ based on first 100 days

After that, Clinton with a B-, Ford with a C, Carter with a C-, HW with a C-, Ronnie with a D-, and bringing up the rear is W with an F. I sure couldn't think of anything good RR or GWB ever did. RR got a slight nod over GWB b/c at least he didn't trash the world economy and drown a city.

[LWolf]

104. Ok. Ranks

1. Carter
2. Clinton
3 & 4 currently tied: Obama and GHWB
5. GWB


I should add that I have never been an enthusiastic supporter of any president during my lifetime.

[ObamaKerryDem]

105. #1 Obama #2 Bush

But ONLY because Bush has been the only other "President" (if you could even call him that..) thus far since I've turned 18 (I'm only 22) :P