Rank the last 6 Presidents

[anvi]

Could I ask; what standard should we use to rank these presidents--should we rank them according to our own policy preferences, or should we rank them according to our estimation of their overall historical impact?  My rankings would change a bit depending on the answer.

[anvi]

Certainly.  But I sometimes like to approach this from the perspective of historical impact long-term.  In my own field, if I were asked to choose who my favorite philosophers of the 20th century were, their names wouldn't be the same as names of the philosophers during the century whose thought at the most wide-ranging influence.  I'm just not sure what the standard for the thread was.

[anvi]

Not saying Obama is a good president--I'm certainly not satisfied with him.  But worse than Bush 43?  Just no.

[anvi]

I don't disagree with that sentiment, Torie.  And there were a number of things Bush did as president that I approve of.  But, the way I look at it, even if one is comparing worst mistakes, Bush got us involved in a very drawn-out war on initially very dubious and ultimately false grounds, while Obama presided over an ultimately bad scheme intended to insure more people, and hasn't made good budget deals.  I prefer the latter failings to the former.