Rate the Presidents, Installment #41: George H. W. Bush

[JonathanSwift]

George H. W. Bush, 1989-1993

Previous Results
Abraham Lincoln: 4.45 Stars
George Washington: 4.42 Stars
Chester A. Arthur: 3.8 Stars
Dwight D. Eisenhower: 3.7 Stars
Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 3.67 Stars
Thomas Jefferson: 3.65 Stars
Theodore Roosevelt: 3.59 Stars
James Monroe: 3.57 Stars
John Quincy Adams: 3.5 Stars
Grover Cleveland: 3.46 Stars
Grover Cleveland: 3.46 Stars
John F. Kennedy: 3.43 Stars
Harry S. Truman: 3.38 Stars
James Madison: 3.23 Stars
William Howard Taft: 3.15 Stars
Zachary Taylor: 3.15 Stars
James A. Garfield: 3.14 Stars
Calvin Coolidge: 3.12 Stars
Ulysses S. Grant: 3.06 Stars
Martin Van Buren: 3.04 Stars
Jimmy Carter: 2.86 Stars
James K. Polk: 2.85 Stars
Gerald Ford: 2.73 Stars
Ronald Reagan: 2.62 Stars
John Adams: 2.58 Stars
Lyndon B. Johnson: 2.53 Stars
Warren Harding: 2.48 Stars
William McKinley: 2.47 Stars
Andrew Jackson: 2.43 Stars
William Henry Harrison: 2.38 Stars
Woodrow Wilson: 2.36 Stars
Millard Fillmore: 2.33 Stars
Benjamin Harrison: 2.33 Stars
Richard Nixon: 2.29 Stars
Rutherford B. Hayes: 2.15 Stars
Herbert Hoover: 2.11 Stars
John Tyler: 2.11 Stars
Andrew Johnson: 1.72 Stars
Franklin Pierce: 1.6 Stars
James Buchanan: 1.41 Stars

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm willing to give him two stars for not being as utterly boneheaded as the other two post-1980 Republican Presidents, but he was still largely despicable.

[SWE]

inb4 moderate hero circle jerk

[OSR stands with Israel]

3 stars, give him high marks for how he handled the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how he ended the gulf war without us having to occupy Iraq. But I cannot give him anything higher thing then 3 stars due to be inconsequtional in everything but those two during his presidency

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

3 stars, give him high marks for how he handled the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how he ended the gulf war without us having to occupy Iraq. But I cannot give him anything higher thing then 3 stars due to be inconsequtional in everything but those two during his presidency

This. Good on most foreign policy issues, iffy to bad on domestic issues.

[Blair]

He'll beat Reagan in this test-which proves that being a rather bland President. Bush however, does deserve credit for the super market scam where he was made out to be a senile old folk.

Foreign Policy was pretty good, apart from his Chicken Kiev Speech

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Two stars at best.

[Mr. Smith]

Two stars at best.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

3 stars, give him high marks for how he handled the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how he ended the gulf war without us having to occupy Iraq. But I cannot give him anything higher thing then 3 stars due to be inconsequtional in everything but those two during his presidency

This. Good on most foreign policy issues, iffy to bad on domestic issues.

[PJ]

Very mediocre and ineffective on domestic policy, and intervening in Panama and Iraq was bad. 2 stars I guess.

[SATW]

4 stars.

[TDAS04]

2 stars.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

4 stars.

[The Dowager Mod]

Solid 3 stars.

[Zioneer]

Meh, 3.

[RogueBeaver]

3 stars, give him high marks for how he handled the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how he ended the gulf war without us having to occupy Iraq. But I cannot give him anything higher thing then 3 stars due to be inconsequtional in everything but those two during his presidency

This. Good on most foreign policy issues, iffy to bad on domestic issues.

[ScottieF]

Solid three stars and one of the better presidents we've had with regards to foreign policy - his handling of the Soviet Union's collapse and the Gulf War was the work of a true statesman. On domestic policy however he loses points for escalating the war on drugs and for generally continuing the country's rightward bent towards Reaganism. Raising taxes, which probably cost him the 1992 election, was a wise move on his part. Ultimately more of a transitional figure than anything though.

[Antonio the Sixth]

4 stars.

Solid 3 stars.

Meh, 3.

Ugh, what's wrong with you people?

[Phony Moderate]

Useless domestically, best President on foreign policy since Carter. Three stars, since I'm in a reasonable mood.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Bush ran a blatantly racist campaign in 1988, pandered to the Religious Right more than Reagan ever did, and made the most catastrophic appointment in modern Supreme Court history. What a great moderate indeed.

[Simfan34]

5 star president! We need more like him. More of his kind.

[CapoteMonster]

3 stars. He should get some credit for signing the disabilities act and environmental legislation but nominating Clarence Thomas was a disaster. Despite all the crap he did foreign policy wise out of office I will give Bush props for not making his son's mistake in Iraq.

[Sumner 1868]

I'm astonished by the number of people who think that the man was competent in foreign policy. Not only did he advocate the "shock therapy" brutal austerity for the post-Soviet nations that crushed their economies, but his war to save the Kuwaiti oil regime ultimately caused 9/11.

Still, out of generosity, I'll give him a star instead of zero because of the ADA.

[Xing]

Two stars at best. It would be a bit petty of me to rate him one star for claiming that atheists shouldn't be considered Americans, but I do think that was a pretty $%#^@* up thing to say, and I personally despise him for that.

[JonathanSwift]

Final Result: 2.95 Stars