Talk Elections

Only 7?  We suck.

Tossup: Carter or Johnson. I'll say Carter because at least LBJ had the Civil Rights Act of 1964, although his policies on Southeast Asia and poverty were crap.

Carter, although none were what I would call bad. Carter was in over his head and incompetent at the job, though he was a great guy.

Yup.

Wilson, although Carter and Clinton have their low points too.

Tough, but I picked Johnson. Most of the good stuff Johnson did (civil rights and such) were Kennedy's ideas that he just couldn't implement because he wasn't in much good standing with the southern Democrats in Congress.

^^^

Carter, but he wasn't alltogether horrible compared to the situation he was put in.

The rest of them were rather good Presidents, Truman, Roosevelt, and Wilson among the greatest Presidents in history.

The fascist, Wilson.

Wilson, the racist

I see a lot of love for Wilson here!

;)

Wilson.  Carter didn't do anything that bad--he just was unpopular and had really bad luck.  FDR in 2nd b/c he made us dependant on welfare.

Carter!

Carter!


Why don't they ever pick on Millard Fillmore? :)

That commie FDR, though Wilson and Johnson are high up there.

None really stand out as bad, but I vote Truman.  FDR was the biggest FF ever.  No president even comes close to FDR's greatness.

Wilson was pretty bad, but for sheer incompetence and lack of vision, definitely Carter.

Carter, and I really don't think he was a terrible president.  He was just in way over his head.  Had it not been for the oil crisis, the Iranian Revolution and ensuing hostage crisis, and of course stagflation (which ended in the '80s thanks to economic reforms adopted by the Fed during the Carter Administration!), he would have been remembered in a kinder light. 

Johnson had much of the same problem with the Vietnam War.  He (and I'm referring to Johnson here) also went too far with some of his Great Society programs, such as affirmative action and welfare, that could be easily exploited to achieve means contrary to their original intent.

Wilson, Roosevelt, and Truman were fantastic presidents.  Truman is probably my personal favorite, though the other two come close.  I'm going to defend Wilson here since it seems that he's been getting a lot of negative feedback.  How can you have a low opinion of a man under whose administration so many reforms were enacted?   During his administration, American business continued to open up to more competition, income taxes were authorized (16th Amendment, OK maybe libertarians won't like that one), senators became directly elected (17th Amendment, and women received the right to vote (19th Amendment).  Okay, Prohibition turned out to be a bad idea.  I maintain that, although he initially tried to remain neutral, Wilson and the U.S. got into the war for the right reasons.  And let's not forget that he, along with Theodore Roosevelt, were instrumental in shaping 20th Century American foreign policy. 

I don't think Carter lacked vision, as least with regards to his foreign policy. He was a pacifist, but that doesn't necessarily equate to lack of vision.

Concurred. SV 87, I take your point about his achievements in office, but the man was an out-and-out bigot, which is why I voted for him in this case. Carter was right place, wrong time, which is a shame cos he's a legend of a man.

Why Truman?  Unless you have an issue with him dropping the two bombs, I can't find a reason to declare him the worst.  I dislike him because of Korea and the Truman Doctrine, but if you're going to go down that route more people died under Johnson's watch in Vietnam than did under Truman in Korea.  (Well, the numbers might be close but Johnson f'ed up far worse in Vietnam than did Truman)  Of course, maybe you hold Truman responsible for every Cold War American casualty, but I don't see that as being entirely fair.

As I said no Dmeocrat really stands out as bad.  Personally, I feel the Truman Doctrine was horrific and the cause of terrible foreign policy decisions up to Nixon.  Also, I see nothing Truman did that would really redeem him.  Johnson however lead the Great Society reforms which to me balances out Vietnam enough to be 2nd worst Dem after Truman.

My favorite aspect of the Truman presidency was actually a failure: he was the first president to actively attempt to institute universal single-payer health care.

Carter with a close tie for 2nd between Wilson, FDR, and LBJ.