The worst American President ever

[Trey of Diamonds]

Other nominees on my list include Woodrow Wilson, Millard Fillmore, George W. Bush and John Adams.

Why Millard Fillmore? The Compromise of 1850?

 

[tumbleweed41]

Why Millard Fillmore? The Compromise of 1850?

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1853.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

The Fugitive Slave Act of 1853.

Which was a part of the Compromise of 1850. How can you blame Fillmore? This wasn't something he personally believed in, he just did his best in a situation that later required a rather nasty war to resolve.

 

[Revoltingest]

I don't think Reagan ranks anywhere near the bottom ten, I was just pointing out the shift in control of the Republican party that Reagan started by latching onto the religious right.

The religion thingie seems independent of him.
He was mostly all about smaller government, & didn't emphasize religion much.

 

[tumbleweed41]

The religion thingie seems independent of him.
He was mostly all about smaller government, & didn't emphasize religion much.

It was his alignment with the Moral Majority.

 

[Revoltingest]

It was his alignment with the Moral Majority.

I remember the campaign, & just didn't see him cater to them to
the extent that it caused the rise of American political religiosity.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I remember the campaign, & just didn't see him cater to them to
the extent that it caused the rise of American political religiosity.

The way he ignored his commissions findings on porn and drugs, in favor for views held by the religious right, makes me think otherwise.

 

[Revoltingest]

The way he ignored his commissions findings on porn and drugs, in favor for views held by the religious right, makes me think otherwise.

In that respect, he was no different from his predecessors or successors.

 

[s2a]

Wow. Tough call.

"Worst ever"

Even that determination is bound by particulars of personalized priorities of "worsts"...

Worst for Constitutional adherence.
Worst for personal ethics.
Worst for suppressing innovation.
Worst in warmongering.
Worst in evident intellect.

Worst in looks

As both a student of, and teacher of American history, I honestly can't peg any one president as "worst ever", without at least a bit of added relevant subtext to the times.

Within my own lifetime (54 years now), my "worst" candidate would easily be GWB, for he was our only president to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed to call him "My President" upon the world stage. Buffoon.

Nixon was a paranoid, but did manage some good works in his time.

Kennedy was a dreamer, and an intellect, both crucial traits in his era.

Johnson was a bully, and a bit of a redneck, but not an especially compelling leader.

Carter was a man ahead of his time, in so many ways. Maybe our most thoughtful and compassionate president since Lincoln. But perhaps too much so...

GHWB was a decent man, ever destined to walk in the shadows of others.

Clinton:the absolute epitome of a policy wonk, and perhaps the most accomplished/astute pure politician, ever. If not for that dysfunctional zipper of his...

Reagan: Empty suit personified. Ideology over ideas, at any cost. Arguably the man most responsible for the decline of the middle class, mindless deregulation of corporations, and the enabling of the crazy religious right's ascendency to it's present coup of the Republican party as we once knew it...

Obama is easily the most astute President in my lifetime as concerns Constitutional law. He has yet to grasp his own vital importance in crafting a course for the direction of our country in the years to come...

Obama is only now (after 3 1/2 years in office) learning to deal with people that have interests but their own to satisfy, and he may be our first President ever to personally confront such a circumstance in the entirety of our nation's history. The historians will define his eventual legacy, for good or ill/

 

[tumbleweed41]

Which was a part of the Compromise of 1850. How can you blame Fillmore? This wasn't something he personally believed in, he just did his best in a situation that later required a rather nasty war to resolve.

Maybe I unjustly hold him responsible for enacting the first Federal law legitimizing slaves as personal property, but, then again, I didn't put him at the top of the list.

 

[Trey of Diamonds]

Maybe I unjustly hold him responsible for enacting the first Federal law legitimizing slaves as personal property, but, then again, I didn't put him at the top of the list.

I understand the sentiment but since it was part of a compromise rather than a bill he personally desired I cut him some slack. After all, he was one of the 5 Unitarian presidents.

 

[gnomon]

Here's the reasons for my top three.

1) Jackson. Completely threw aside the Constitution and the separation of powers in ignoring the Supreme Courts decision regarding the Cherokee. It is my opinion that in the following of Worcester v. Georgia that Jackson looked for a way to evict the Cherokee from their lands. Van Buren may have been President during the Trail of Tears but is was Ol' Hickory that set this in process. Namely that the case declared that the state of Georgia, my State, had no authority for Cherokee removal and that Jackson instilled the political will against the Supreme Court to go ahead with removal.

2) Wilson. For a President of the United States whose primary role is to uphold the laws of the Constitution and protect the rights of U.S. citizens to sit idly while his Attorney General enacts the forcible removal of U.S. citizens to their land of heritage is unforgivable in our system of government. As well is the foreign policy attitude of democritization, a bane on the entire planet, set in forth by this man. There's also the question of his outright racism in removing blacks from positions of office.

3) Buchanan. His sheer ineptitude prior to the Civil War.

 

[Falvlun]

Thomas Jefferson also had a pretty abysmal run as President. While he was a brilliant statesman and politician, he oversaw the unconstitutional Louisiana Purchase and used trade policies that crippled the US economy, owed hundreds of slaves, and instituted policies that led to the Trail of Tears and guided federal policy towards Native Americans for most of the next century.

Just curious, why was the Louisiana Purchase unconstitutional? And if it was, is there any partiuclar reason to not appreciate the results? It was the bargain of a lifetime.

 

[factotum]

Other nominees on my list include Woodrow Wilson, Millard Fillmore, George W. Bush and John Adams.

Jackson defeated the "National Bank." John Adams may have made some honest mistakes. Worst Pres.? FDR. No contest.

 

[Sunstone]

Jackson defeated the "National Bank." John Adams may have made some honest mistakes. Worst Pres.? FDR. No contest.

You're right. FDR saved capitalism. We'd have been better off with socialism.

 

[Revoltingest]

You're right. FDR saved capitalism.

A novel idea...your reasoning?

 

[Tarheeler]

Just curious, why was the Louisiana Purchase unconstitutional? And if it was, is there any partiuclar reason to not appreciate the results? It was the bargain of a lifetime.

Because the federal government was not granted authority to make it. Jefferson, an anti-federalist who advocated for a severely truncated government with extremely limited powers, went as far as drafting the constitution amendment that would allow it just in case he was called on it.

As for the result, I never said I didn't appreciate it. It has nothing to do with my previous comment in this thread.

 

[Sunstone]

A novel idea...your reasoning?

You're wrong. The idea is far, far from being my own. Read history, much?

 

[Revoltingest]

You're wrong. The idea is far, far from being my own. Read history, much?

Why, yes I do. And you?
I was curious what your reasoning was.
You don't have to answer though.

Edit:
Hmmm....my response above now looks namby pamby. (It was late & I was tired)
To say "FDR saved capitalism" would imply that without him, capitalism would be no more.
This is novel. Would the country have gone socialist, communist or feudal without him?
There is also controversy over FDR's New Deal steering the country in a socialist direction, & sparking the 1937 recession within a depression.
It could've been interesting, but to trot out your over-used "Read history, much?" barb is ill tempered deflection.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Here's the reasons for my top three.

1) Jackson. Completely threw aside the Constitution and the separation of powers in ignoring the Supreme Courts decision regarding the Cherokee. It is my opinion that in the following of Worcester v. Georgia that Jackson looked for a way to evict the Cherokee from their lands. Van Buren may have been President during the Trail of Tears but is was Ol' Hickory that set this in process. Namely that the case declared that the state of Georgia, my State, had no authority for Cherokee removal and that Jackson instilled the political will against the Supreme Court to go ahead with removal.

2) Wilson. For a President of the United States whose primary role is to uphold the laws of the Constitution and protect the rights of U.S. citizens to sit idly while his Attorney General enacts the forcible removal of U.S. citizens to their land of heritage is unforgivable in our system of government. As well is the foreign policy attitude of democritization, a bane on the entire planet, set in forth by this man. There's also the question of his outright racism in removing blacks from positions of office.

3) Buchanan. His sheer ineptitude prior to the Civil War.

Yowza. When did you peek inside my skull and how did you flesh out why I think these three presidents were the worst our country has ever seen? :clap