My Favorite US President

[Ancient Dragon]

Reagan was probably one of the best presidents in my lifetime, including JFK. A long-time movie star he knew how to capture his audience, for example this YouTube clip

[frogboy77]

Does charm and wit a good president make? (or just a popular one)

[Momerath]

If you consider starting the trend of giving benefits to the rich by stealing from the middle class and poor a good thing; or starting the failed 'War on Drugs' that has increased our prison population to levels not even seen in countries run by dictators is a good thing; if you think selling crack cocaine to poor minorities to fund rebels in a foreign country is a good thing; if you think training and funding Osama bin Laden was a good thing.

The list just goes on and on. I don't understand why people think he was a good president at all.

[jwenting]

Does charm and wit a good president make? (or just a popular one)

if it did, Clinton wouldn't be the 3rd worst (after Obama and Carter) president ever.

Vive la Reagan Revolucion!

[Ancient Dragon]

Who said Clinton was the 3d worst?? If you look at this scolarly chart, Reagan was ranked among the best, and Clinton was among the 2d best. there's a lot of red on that chart, but none of them belong to either Clinton or Reagan.

And read on down that page, a gallop poll in 2011 ranked Reagan as THE greatest president ever (19%) followed by Lincoln (14%) and Clinton (13%).

[jwenting]

Clinton used to be the 2nd worst (after Carter), but now with Obama he's climbed to 3rd worst...

Such charts are only as good as the people making them. Get the right person (or rather, the leftist person) and you get a chart showing Obama is the best ever and Reagan the worst.

[Ancient Dragon]

I think you mis-read the chart. The Presidents are listed in chronological order of their administrations, not their popularity.

[frogboy77]

Anyone who makes it to the upper echelons of politics should be feared and despised(in equal measure). The money's not the best and i don't believe for a second they are there for the good of the the people, so there has to be another reason. It's probably ________ (you can fill in the blank).

[jingda]

I like abraham lincoln. Bacause i like his qualities, although i do not live in the USA

[VernonDozier]

They're so hard to rate. First you have to agree on who's qualified to rate them, then you have to agree on some criteria. As the ratings show, depending on who you ask and what the criteria are, you can get some dramatically different tables. However, good old Abe Lincoln seems to always come out on top no matter what, so there must be something to that.

I'm guessing I'm not the only one who doesn't know whether to rank Franklin Pierce above or below Martin Van Buren because I don't know a thing about either of them. I'll stick to rating the presidents from Teddy Roosevelt on, but even then I have absolutely no opinion on guys like Taft and Coolidge. Overall there are only about a dozen that I have strong opinions on and would bother giving a rank to. Lots of opinions on Obama, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush, but I don't feel like getting into it so I'll keep 'em to myself. This time... :). I'll put Abe at the top like just about everyone else.

[vegaseat]

Wasn't there one president that fell asleep in meetings?

[ntrncx]

i am not american,the only reason that i checked that thread is to see if anyone will say the bush was good :p cause as everyone clearly knows 9/11 was inside job with facts and iraq was set up for oils etc,actualy the last years at least i dont think usa has good presidents :D

[jingda]

Wasn't there one president that fell asleep in meetings?

And who was that?

[jonsca]

The money's not the best

Everybody always says that, but they forget that there are just so many perqs beyond the salary (not to mention all the book deals and speaking engagements afterwards are probably enough to keep them afloat). I'll bet the president doesn't pay for internet and cable ;)

FWIW, I think William Henry Harrison was the best president ever.

[susheelsundar]

Ancient dragon for President :P

[jonsca]

Ancient dragon for President :P

But he's only 34!

[vegaseat]

My personal favorite is George Washington, a true hero and very smart.

[jonsca]

My personal favorite is George Washington, a true hero and very smart.

Don't the (perhaps fictional) wooden teeth freak you out?

[frogboy77]

Not really.

Washington: My teeth have fallen out.
Doctor: I'm afraid there is nothing we can do sir.
Washington: Bugger that i'm going out for steak tonight, not sodding soup, and nothing's going to stop me. Go down to the lumber yard and get me some hardwood. I've got an idea.

Freak me out? No. Scare the crap out of me? Perhaps. A days of yore 007 villain.

[jingda]

Anyone here want to volunteer himself to be the president? How about the daniweb mods be the new government

[jonsca]

How about the daniweb mods be the new government

Yes, and I'm sure before long they'd be passing out Kool-Aid.

[Fest3er]

... I'll put Abe at the top like just about everyone else.

I would tend to put Lincoln well down in such a list. He had a strong tendency to shred the Constitution.

Communists, socialists, fascists, anarchists and other anti-republicans have been poking and chipping away at the Constitution for so many decades now that there isn't much left of it.

A telling list would be one that orders presidents by how well they adhered to and protected and defended the Constitution during their terms of office. One might be surprised to see how many presidents have simply redefined the English language in order to make the Constitution mean what they want at any given time.

This country use to be based on the rule of law, and especially the rule of the highest law of the land. Alas, it is based on the rule of those who can bray and trumpet the loudest.

[VernonDozier]

>> Anyone here want to volunteer himself to be the president?

Worst job ever invented with the possible exception of congressman. The personal details of your life you have to make public, the deals you have to make and the asses you have to kiss in order to raise money and get anything done. That doesn't even include the actual role of governing and handling stuff like riots, hurricanes, Cuban Missile Crises, wars, genocides, etc. etc. You couldn't draft me to do that job, much less have me COMPETE for it.

Give me landmine defuser, prison guard, salt mine worker, or Nuclear Power Plant radiation jumper any day over president. I couldn't handle the stress.

[jingda]

>> Anyone here want to volunteer himself to be the president?

.

I am willing. ;)

[jwenting]

>> Worst job ever invented with the possible exception of congressman.

A lot of people love it for the power, the being above the law (in fact, being the law). Others do it out of a sense of duty, and get called terrible names because of it because they do things as president which aren't popular among the press but have to be done to protect the country and its citizens.

[Ancient Dragon]

I would be president if I could also be dictator. The first thing I'd do is put all the bills that have been passed by congress and all the decisions of USSC (United Stated Supreme Court) since 1776 through the paper shredder. Let's start all over again with the Constitution as it stands today. Then I'd fire most of the President's cabinet members, and dismantal most of the federal government, except those agencies specifically mandated in the Constitution, which I think is just the military. Immediately withdraw all military from everywhere around the globe and immediately stop all foreigh aid everywhere. Nations can just learn to fight their own wars without USA aid, just like they did 200 years ago.

That, I believe, is pretty much what the Libetarian party wants to do.

[VernonDozier]

>> except those agencies specifically mandated in the Constitution

If you're going to declare yourself dictator and put all the bills that have been passed by Congress and all the decisions of the Supreme Court through the paper shredder, why bother worrying about what's mandated in the Constitution? Or is this one of those "In order to save the true Constitution, we'll have to ignore it for a while till we get it back on track" benevolent dictator, then voluntarily step down type of things? It would be a refreshing campaign platform, I'll give you that. Hell, I might just vote for you.

[Ancient Dragon]

As I stated, to get back to the way the constitution is today. We couldn't get back to the Constitution if we ignored parts of it. I might be dictator, but a legal one with morals and scruples. And that would also mean restoring all States rights and giving the power to govern back to the people.

But of course that's only a fantacy and nothing will ever come of it.

[jwenting]

in fact, nowhere does the constitution prevent there being a dictator. Most of the "election laws" created since are only marginally constitutional, in fact several constitutional ammendments are themselves technically unconstitutional in that they restrict constitutional rights and expand the government beyond what the constitution intends.
Which should hardly come as a surprise, as they're created by and for people whose main interest in doing so in perpetuating and increasing their own power.

[susheelsundar]

....for people whose main interest in doing so in perpetuating and increasing their own power.

If people knows that a leader whom they choose can be selfish, and willing to increase only his power, why would people vote for him?, at first place, and a leader is given power, because he is elected and chosen one by people, whereas, everyone think one unified will cannot be wrong, but it can be :D