Rating the Presidents

Worst president: Nixon.
I disagree. How many PEOPLE did Nixon kill, maim or cripple thru needless bloodshed and war for OIL?

Worst President? George W Bush. He lied and got us into an unnecessary war, wrecked the economy and ran up the national debt, and I could go on and on.
Yes, W Bush was the worst, not even close.

SUPREME COURT APPOINTEES ......... Thank you, MSW, for those timely and interesting observations. It is surprising that you think the two Catholic presidents, JFK and Reagan, are the most overrated , given your usual advocacy slant.

In making these assessments you need to add the presidents' consequential decisions in appointing Supreme Court Justices. Their appointees have often significantly impacted American values and politics long after the presidents who appointed them left office.

Of course, by 2016, the end of the next presidential term, a third of the current Supreme Court Justices, including Catholic conservatives Scalia and Kennedy, will turn 80 years old. Either by retirements or the Grim Reaper's hand, it is likely that the Court will face a potentially critical change, explaining in part the re-eruption of the election year culture wars.

It is suprising that this has not been given much media attention, especially as the US bishops mount their fabricated "anti-contraception crusade" to replace Obama with a conservative Republican.

Prof. Anita Hill, Justice Thomas'former aide, will be appearing next Sunday at 10 a.m. on MSNBC's informative new show hosted by provocative scholar, Melissa Harris-Perry. Given Justice Thomas unique Establishment Clause opinions and his wife's unusual voice message to Anita Hill, among other issues, this media dearth may quickly end after Melissa's show. Thomas's wife has reportedly had ties to groups that apparently now support the bishops' "religious liberty" ploy, as well supporting the Citizens United decision.

MSW, please stay with your close reporting of the various religious subtexts of the 2012 election contest, especially concerning the Pope and Catholic bishops' hidden hands. It is sometimes difficult to fathom. One wonders whether, for example, the unexpected touting this week by NCR's John Allen and others of Timothy Dolan to be next Pope was really serious or merely aimed mainly at buttressing Dolan's failing anti-contraception crusade against Obama.

For more details on Dolan as next Pope, please read the comment, "Pope Dolan, God Help Us?", readily accessible by clicking on at:

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/pope-new-cardinals-%E2%80%98forget-...

I disagree with many of your rankings. For one, I would say that the greatest president in history was Washington. Washington did what no other person could do, during his time, and that was unite thirteen individual states (formerly colonies) into one coherent whole. Granted, the whole argued and disagreed, but that is to be expected in any human endeavor. Washington, moreover, was a man of outstanding virtue, honesty and integrity. He defined the presidency in nearly every aspect, and his decision to stand down following the Revolution, his decision to stand down following the Constitutional Convention, and his decision to stand down following two terms as president are unheard of in the annals of power; never before has someone voluntarily given up absolute power, not once, but three times.

The worst president? A tie between James Buchanan and Jimmy Carter. Buchanan simply kicked the can of Civil War down the road; in nearly every historical record of the presidency, his is listed as the worst. Carter? Carter was, by all accounts, a good man, who was entirely out of his depth as president. He was a man who accomplished little, who blamed America's economic misfortune during the 70s on "malaise" and who, through his failure to support our ally in Iran, the Shah, directly contributed to the Muslim extremist state that Iran has become.

I agree with you that JFK is the most overrated president, but Reagan is not! I would argue that his is the most consequential presidency. After 4 years of Carter's pessimism and lack of dignity in the office, after the Watergate scandals of Nixon and the generally bland performance of Ford, in the midst of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and an economic downturn early in his first term, Reagan was able to boost American spirits, reminding the American people that we are a "shining city on a hill", a beacon of light and hope to the world. Through his unique partnership with two of the greatest people of their, or any age, Margaret Thatcher and Blessed John Paul II, Reagan was able to destabilize the Soviet Union in such a way that, within 5 years of his leaving office, the Evil Empire was no more, the people of the Warsaw Pact were free and democracy and capitalism was booming in Eastern Europe. He returned dignity to the Office of president, and his was the hopeful, optimistic, positive outlook that brought America into a shining new age, the longest peace-time economic expansion in American history.

I would add a category, most problematic president: Abraham Lincoln. Many people deify Lincoln for his emancipation of the slave, and for his successful leadership of the nation during the Civil War. What people overlook, however, is that Lincoln presided over, and hastened, a serious unwritten amending of the Constitution. Prior to the Civil War, the US operated as a collection of semi-autonomous states that formed one federal union; power was balanced, precariously perhaps, between the state and the union, just as the Framers intended. Thanks to Lincoln and his insistence that the union was superior to the states, that balance changed. Today we live with the consequences of Lincoln's beliefs -- a bloated federal government that imposes all manner of laws and regulations on the states, everything from blood alcohol limits, to speed limit laws, to No Child Left Behind, and then blackmails the states to accept those laws by threatening to withhold various grants-in-aid. Too many people learn in school that the Civil War was about slavery, it was not. Slavery was merely the symptom and the flint that sparked the conflagration. The Civil War was about which was superior, the state or the union. It entirely ignored the Framers who believed that neither was superior, each had its place, and power should rightfully be balanced between them. Lincoln freed the slaves, and kept the union together; along the way, he did, I fear, irreparable harm to the federal system of government that the Constitution established.

Reagan and JPII wre the worst because they corrupted our political system, likely forever. They gave America over to haters full of nazi-like Repubs who do anything and everything to make America into a Fascist nation.

Now, GWB has completed that process and begun the process of turning America into a Fascist theocracy.

The American voter no longer controls America. BIG business and A few BIG religions control America.

Scalia said he wanted that to happen and now it has. Everything is done for money, noting because it is right. Now killing for oil is the order-of-the-day.

Msybe these two popes are the worst because they have turned God and religion into a political tool.

Most under-rated, Ike, since his tax policies created the middle class. Most over-rated: Wilson, who was a despicable tyrant and segregationist who thought the ends justified the means, freedom be damned. Nixon was not as bad as people thought, just a bit pathological. Agree Reagan was overrated. Buchannan still wins as being worst, followed closely by the inept Millard Filmore. Carter was also underrated. With better handlers and no Kennedy challenge, he would have prevented Reagan - although Hinkley might have killed him where Reagan survived, in which case he would have been considered a martyred President and therefore great. Then we would have had Mondale.

This is well done and perfect for today.

I think history will be unkind to George "Dubya" Bush, and he will stand with Nixon as the two who most damaged the presidency. But history will only continue to marvel at what Thomas Jefferson did in shaping who we are as a nation.

Thanks.

And what about personal character? Jefferson and Sally Hemings--was that a true love story, or just master-slave relationship? Also, JFK going after a 19-year-old. And FDR trying to pack the Supreme Court? Etc. And other actions, behaviors, not necessarily part of presidency.

Grover Cleveland may have been good as a president, but a lowlife re his out of wedlock child and how he treated him and his mother, if what the following book says is true. A Secret Life: The Sex, Lies, and Scandals of President of Grover Cleveland by Charles Lachman.

But, to remember, regardless, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Apart from all the charisma & superficial fluff, you short-change JFK rather badly. Though born a child of great privilege, public service was deeply instilled in him; & he had a first rate mind. Johnson was the inheritor of the civil rights course charted by JFK & RFK. His legacy was cut short by his assassination after only less than three full years of presidency. Let me respectfully recommend your reading of MSNBC's Chris Matthews' recent, wonderfully written bio on Kennedy titled, 'Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero.'

Best: Washington, because he could have been king, but refused. By voluntarily retiring after two terms, he set the incredible precedent that no president is indispensible.

Worst: FDR, horrible for the exact opposite reason that Washington was so great.

GREATEST PRESIDENT EVER, is the second term coming for this one:

Obama on 9-11: "May God bless the memory of those we lost"
By Lynn Sweet on September 12, 2011 6:59 AM | No Comments

WASHINGTON--At the last of a long day of memorials Sunday marking the tenth anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, President Obama noted lives lost in New York, Washington, Pennsylvania, Iraq and Afghanistan: "May God bless the memory of those we lost, may God bless the United States of America."