A 21st Century President Poll

[jvikings1]

Trump > Clinton > Biden > Bush > Obama

 

Trump and Clinton both benefit from the absolutely atrocious job done by Bush and Obama (and currently being done by Biden). Biden edges out Bush and Obama because he has not been in office long enough to do as much damage as those two (though he is well on his way). None of these 5 are great Presidents and are nowhere near the top of the list for best Presidents in history. Trump's rhetoric in a lot of ways was better than his actual governance, though there were a few bright spots (his attempt to eliminate section 230, his plans to bring troops home from Afghanistan, tax cuts, Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, pro-life administrative actions, etc). Though Trump's last year is especially tarnished by him embracing/giving a voice to the fraud named "Dr." Fauci and thus the fearmongering that ensued over the virus.

Clinton receives the benefit of balancing the budget (something that will not happen again in the near to mid future, if at all) during his term and working with a Republican controlled Congress to do so. He also signed welfare reform into law (again, something that likely will not happen again in the near to mid future). Both men has terrible personal reputations but that gets outweighed by the other 3s terrible morals in governing (Patriot Act, the use of intelligence services to target political opponents, the use of IRS against political opponents, warmongering [Clinton and Trump did have some of this as well], the assault on religious liberty [specifically Obama and Biden]).

[vcczar]

For me its, Obama > Clinton > Biden > GW Bush > Trump

Biden has potential to beat Clinton, who I think was too much of a fence-sitter for greatness. Had he succeeded with Healthcare, he'd probably be #1 on this list, partially because it takes away Obama's great accomplishment. Neither Obama, Clinton, nor Biden have had any major failures, although they do have some failures. While Bush was more consistently bad than Trump, I find the worst of Trump to cut much, much deeper in general. Bush had three massive dark points -- Patriot Act, Iraq War occupation fiasco, and the Great Recession. Trump has his insurrection, two impeachments, a lack of empathy and seriousness in his response to COVID, proliferation of misinformation, lack of empathy and seriousness during a rise of racial tension, and an overall complete lack of ability to read the room and respond intelligently. It's almost like he has Down Syndrome or something. Back to Democrats, I think all three Democrats lack boldness. They tend to cave more than Republicans cave. Obama's 2008 campaign and platform signaled an attempt for greatness, but he achieved only goodness-to-above averageness. He was slow to capitalize during the two years he had both Houses of Congress, but he did get his signature law into effect. He was pretty much as fence-sitting and moderate as Bill Clinton, with some exceptions, during the remaining 6 years of his presidency. I'm not quite sure where Biden is going to go. I doubt he will fail. The reason for this is that I think the economy can only go up from the Covid Recession that happened under Trump. He will at least have that luxury, which might be enough to help him in reelection. I don't expect him to accomplish much of anything legislatively. In an era where bipartisanship had some appeal (pre-Gingrich), Biden likely would prove a great president. He's just out of style. He can only hope to be good or above average. 

Here's another way to look at presidents. How I think they did, compared to what I think their potential was. 

• Clinton 75/85  (Was C+ when he could have been B+)
• Bush II 50/65 
• Obama 80/95
• Trump 40/70
• Biden 70/80

[ConservativeElector2]

3 hours ago, jvikings1 said:

Trump > Clinton > Biden > Bush > Obama

 

Trump and Clinton both benefit from the absolutely atrocious job done by Bush and Obama (and currently being done by Biden). Biden edges out Bush and Obama because he has not been in office long enough to do as much damage as those two (though he is well on his way). None of these 5 are great Presidents and are nowhere near the top of the list for best Presidents in history. Trump's rhetoric in a lot of ways was better than his actual governance, though there were a few bright spots (his attempt to eliminate section 230, his plans to bring troops home from Afghanistan, tax cuts, Gorsuch on the Supreme Court, pro-life administrative actions, etc). Though Trump's last year is especially tarnished by him embracing/giving a voice to the fraud named "Dr." Fauci and thus the fearmongering that ensued over the virus.

Clinton receives the benefit of balancing the budget (something that will not happen again in the near to mid future, if at all) during his term and working with a Republican controlled Congress to do so. He also signed welfare reform into law (again, something that likely will not happen again in the near to mid future). Both men has terrible personal reputations but that gets outweighed by the other 3s terrible morals in governing (Patriot Act, the use of intelligence services to target political opponents, the use of IRS against political opponents, warmongering [Clinton and Trump did have some of this as well], the assault on religious liberty [specifically Obama and Biden]).

I don't agree on everything you have written but I agree on Dr. Fauci for being not the hero he was named by many. Early on I had a favorable opinion of him, but the longer the mess continued, it became clear that he was another all talk and having absolutely no clue guy... 

Btw for me it's Bush > Trump > Clinton > Obama > Biden

[Beetlejuice]

Clinton>Trump>Obama>Biden>W
 

Not rating Biden, preliminarily  would put him in between Obama & W. 

Edited July 3, 2021 by Beetlejuice

[Dobs]

18 minutes ago, Patine said:

What's really unfortunate about this whole exercise is that the 21st Century, thus far, has been a piss poor time for quality American apex executive national leadership. Several other posters here have concurred - directly or by intimation - as well.

Hey, I was one of such people!

[ConservativeElector2]

1 minute ago, Patine said:

 

@ConservativeElector2?

Keep calm. I just got up and working through the forum and other sites. I had gotten back to you anyway.

I mean Clinton gave us Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg, therefore probably not encouraging pro-life or any kind of conservative politics... 

[Timur]

Bush > Obama > Biden > Clinton > Trump

Maybe Biden should be lower. He approved of his son's marriage to his brother's wife, but Clinton and Trump are connected with Jeffrey Epstein.

Edited July 3, 2021 by Timur