Best/Worst Presidents for Domestic Accomplishments

[vcczar]

From Siena 2022 Poll

[Murrman104]

all the usual suspects in the worst list but also Coolidge and W 

[vcczar]

I don't think Obama had a ton of accomplishments, but I think his one major accomplishment (Obamacare) is canonical in American domestic successes. 

[10centjimmy]

They really do hate WH Harrison

[vcczar]

1 minute ago, 10centjimmy said:

They really do hate WH Harrison

Yeah. Well, he can't really have said to have had accomplishments. He appointed really minor offices, aside from cabinet officers. I don't believe he signed any bills. So my guess is the pundits, as a whole, generally think presidents tended to move things in a positive direction, aside from maybe the 7 worst presidents. 

[10centjimmy]

1 hour ago, vcczar said:

Yeah. Well, he can't really have said to have had accomplishments. He appointed really minor offices, aside from cabinet officers. I don't believe he signed any bills. So my guess is the pundits, as a whole, generally think presidents tended to move things in a positive direction, aside from maybe the 7 worst presidents. 

Arguably his worst action was running with John Tyler but that blame should be assigned to the Whig leadership. It's a wonderful what if scenario if Harrison (or Taylor since Fillmore was an empty shirt) could've implemented Whig priorities like the bank and higher tariffs, potentially emphasizing public education. But who knows!

[vcczar]

7 minutes ago, 10centjimmy said:

Arguably his worst action was running with John Tyler but that blame should be assigned to the Whig leadership. It's a wonderful what if scenario if Harrison (or Taylor since Fillmore was an empty shirt) could've implemented Whig priorities like the bank and higher tariffs, potentially emphasizing public education. But who knows!

That wasn't his choice. Party picked VPs then. 

[Edouard]

Domestic accomplishments

Lincoln : Changed civil rights for good

FDR : In terms of social rights he revolutionned

LBJ : Kind of last major ambition against poverty, finished Lincoln job

Eisenhower : Based on civil rights, but could not deliver all

Obama : Great presidency for human rights but is it him or the Supreme Court?

Trump doesn't deserve to be that low, he did quite well and not worse than some in the best category.

No US president actively worsened US citizens excepted maybe Wilson when he did not veto the bills for prohibition.

[vcczar]

11 hours ago, Edouard said:

Domestic accomplishments

Lincoln : Changed civil rights for good

FDR : In terms of social rights he revolutionned

LBJ : Kind of last major ambition against poverty, finished Lincoln job

Eisenhower : Based on civil rights, but could not deliver all

Obama : Great presidency for human rights but is it him or the Supreme Court?

Trump doesn't deserve to be that low, he did quite well and not worse than some in the best category.

No US president actively worsened US citizens excepted maybe Wilson when he did not veto the bills for prohibition.

Lincoln also did the Homestead Acts, Land Grants for colleges, and a bunch of other major things. He would be on the list even if the Civil War didn't happen. 

FDR for New Deal

LBJ not just for anti-poverty but also for voting rights, civil rights, healthcare, etc. Definitely a top 3 for domestic success. 

Eisenhower - Mainly infrastructural--Highway. His Civil Rights was kind of weak. 

Obama - Obamacare. Gay Marriage happened under his term, but I'm unaware how much he was involved in making it happen. I'll need to read about what happened behind the scenes. I talked to the spouse of Fred Hochberg, who was Obama's Pres of the Export-Import Bank, when I lived in NYC (I was their part-time personal assistant for like a year when I was jobless. The spouse kind of did it as a charity for me. They didn't really need me to help with anything.) Anyway, the spouse told (this was 2010) that they knew Obama and he wasn't going to rock the boat on gay marriage, but he said that Hillary Clinton would have done something had she won the nomination. 

Trump - He did very little domestically. Very little in general that wasn't rhetorical. I will give him some credit for giving out checks to people during COVID and suspending student debt payments.

Wilson - He signed a lot of regulations, the first major highway bill, etc. You are wrong in regards to prohibition. He DID veto it. Congress overrode the veto. Wilson's worst domestic legacy is that he segregated part or most of the federal government. 

[Murrman104]

Its pretty well known at this point but Obama wasnt going to say much about Gay Marriage till Biden forced his hand by coming out in favour of it in 2012 lol. Depedning who you ask it was either Biden focing the adminstations hand or Biden coming out on somthing they were going to do but just not yet (I would lean towards the former) 

[Edouard]

40 minutes ago, vcczar said:

Lincoln also did the Homestead Acts, Land Grants for colleges, and a bunch of other major things. He would be on the list even if the Civil War didn't happen. 

FDR for New Deal

LBJ not just for anti-poverty but also for voting rights, civil rights, healthcare, etc. Definitely a top 3 for domestic success. 

Eisenhower - Mainly infrastructural--Highway. His Civil Rights was kind of weak. 

Obama - Obamacare. Gay Marriage happened under his term, but I'm unaware how much he was involved in making it happen. I'll need to read about what happened behind the scenes. I talked to the spouse of Fred Hochberg, who was Obama's Pres of the Export-Import Bank, when I lived in NYC (I was their part-time personal assistant for like a year when I was jobless. The spouse kind of did it as a charity for me. They didn't really need me to help with anything.) Anyway, the spouse told (this was 2010) that they knew Obama and he wasn't going to rock the boat on gay marriage, but he said that Hillary Clinton would have done something had she won the nomination. 

Trump - He did very little domestically. Very little in general that wasn't rhetorical. I will give him some credit for giving out checks to people during COVID and suspending student debt payments.

Wilson - He signed a lot of regulations, the first major highway bill, etc. You are wrong in regards to prohibition. He DID veto it. Congress overrode the veto. Wilson's worst domestic legacy is that he segregated part or most of the federal government. 

We say the same on LBJ

My bad for Wilson

You do surprise me that Hillary would have done something if she had won the nomination, because my own impression is that Obama is initially a progressive who adapted his speech to the rules of power while Hillary is a more conservative person who could have been a republican politician if she had taken a different road. Not the most right-wing republican but still a republican.

She was more right-wing than her own state on the issue.

Maybe has she changed but it surprises me, Al Gore was the first nationwide democrat to come in support of gay marriage in 2008 but he was no longer in politic.

[vcczar]

15 minutes ago, Edouard said:

We say the same on LBJ

My bad for Wilson

You do surprise me that Hillary would have done something if she had won the nomination, because my own impression is that Obama is initially a progressive who adapted his speech to the rules of power while Hillary is a more conservative person who could have been a republican politician if she had taken a different road. Not the most right-wing republican but still a republican.

She was more right-wing than her own state on the issue.

Maybe has she changed but it surprises me, Al Gore was the first nationwide democrat to come in support of gay marriage in 2008 but he was no longer in politic.

Clinton was more moderate economically and in foreign policy. She was left of Obama on a few things like on women, LGBT and some things like that. Clinton was defiitely more establishment, which gets translated to more conservative. But really, it's in issue by issue thing.