My 2 cents (and not a penny more!) on the presidents

One of the boasts I made in my argument on MMFA  reagarding Bush beign a complete failure was that "I could easily name something I liked, and something I didn't, about every president, or what they did, since TR and probably 3/4 of the ones before him."  (That's EXCEPTING George W. Bush, of course.)  So, figuring that I'd better be able to back it up, I sat down over my lunch break that day and quickly rapped out that very thing: Something I liked and something I didn't like about every Preseident prior to Bush'43.  Just to dazzle you with amazing presidential knowledge (HA!) this was done in one go, without going to Wiki or any other site.  It's just off the top of my head.  I have cleaned up the format a little since then, just so it's legible in my blog, but I haven't changed any of the content since I first wrote it, back on Thursday's lunch break.  So here goes:

Clinton, Democrat:
Good: Fiscal Discipline resulting in budget surplus and a growing economy for eight strait years.
Bad: Telecommunications Bill and repeal of Glass-Stegal.


Bush’41, Republican:
Good: Strong foreign policy, both military and diplomatic.
Bad: Weak economic policy due to continuation of the Reaganomics he once criticized. (Deficits, taxes, etc... it's killed his presidency in the end.)

Reagan, Republican:
Good: Restored the pride in America and inspired up like no one since Kennedy. Short-term, his fiscal and monetary policy broke the stagflation of the late '70's.
Bad: Lousy long-term economic policies; brought radical Christians into the forefront of American Politics while at the same time arming radical Muslims.

Carter, Democrat:
Good: Peace between Egypt and Irsael. Arguably the most honest man, with the strongest principles and integrity of any man since Grover Cleveland, but let’s face it...
Bad: The results were disastrous!

Ford, Republican:
Good: Restored as measure of faith to the integrity of the Presidency.
Bad: His pardon of Nixon undermined a lot of this, and had lasting implications.
Ed Note: My next blog will be a bit of musing about those "lasting implications!" :)

Nixon, Republican:
Good: Strong foreign policy, both militarily and diplomatic – ENDED Vietnam War. Strong domestic policy: The EPA, FDA, OSHA, etc... But...
Bad:  better relations with China have led to US economic issues long term. Plus he WAS a crook. (Watergate, etc...)

Johnson’36, Democrat:
Good: Civil Rights Act, and related legislation.
Bad: Great Society was right-hearted by wrong-minded. Should have been carefully designed. Escalated Vietnam War.

Kennedy, Democrat:
Good: Strong foreign policy with Soviet Union, inspiring leader domestically.
Bad: Started Vietnam War and waffled on Civil Rights for most of his term.

Eisenhower, Republican:
Good: Strong leader with integrity. Visionary, who foresaw our current problems with the ‘military industrial complex.’
Bad: Um… he didn’t actually DO anything!

Truman, Democrat:
Good: A leader who took ownership of the tough issues. Ended the Second World War.
Bad: Truman Doctrine was right-hearted but wrong minded – led to Vietnam War. Korean War was the most poorly run war until the 2nd Iraq War. (Other than Vietnam.)
Ed Note: Let's leave discussing the implications and morality of dropping the A-Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for another post. 

Roosevelt’32, Democrat:
Good: New Deal led us out of the Great Depression and he led us through World War II.
Bad: Was actually tepid about New Deal – didn’t do nearly enough and tried to end it too soon. Gave the same lousy advice to Herbert Hoover before him, actually.

Hoover, Republican:
Good: He was an engineer. (Yes, that counts for something, in my mind!) (OK, not really.)
Bad: He should have stayed [an engineer]: Economic policies allowed the ’28 crash and led directly to the great depression. Was idealistic, but ideals were misplaced.
Note: To his credit, he couldn’t have known so at the time. He did what the conventional wisdom told him to. At the time, even FDR talked him OUT of some new-deal like programs that were very similar to those he later implimented!

Coolidge, Republican:
Good: Didn’t get in the way of the runaway growth of the roaring 20’s.
Bad: Didn’t get in the way of the runaway growth of the roaring 20’s.

Harding, Republican:
Good: OK. I got nothin'.
Bad: He was a crook with corrupt friends whom he lacked the strength and leadership to reign in. One of the two or three most corrupt administrations ever.

Wilson, Democrat:
Good: Arguably the most visionary foreign policy president of all time. Conceived a new way for Nation to resolve dispute aside from War. If anyone had listened to him, WWII might not have happened.
Bad: As visionary as was his foreign policy, his domestic policy was luddite – women’s suffrage, for example.

Taft, Republican:
Good: Continued economic policies of Roosevelt and even kicked them up a notch.
Bad: Not a very inspiring leader. A bit too plodding, too academic to be our top executive. Better suited for his retirement job: Supreme Court Justice.

Roosevelt’26:
Good: Strong foreign policy, with strong diplomacy. The man himself was a force of nature. One of the most inspiring presidents ever. Strong economic policy – “trust-busting” issues that no company gets “too big to fail” or to powerful for the gov’t to regulate.
Bad: It may have been more a sign of the times, but the man was a bit of a racist, especially with regards to the Native Americans.

OK... So that's part one.  I couldn't come up with anything good for Harding, and my Hoover good was really, really weak.  And yeah, granted their both Republicans, but they're not exactly ones that the Right usually holds up as shining examples of leadership anyway.  So that's 17 president and I got 32 out of 34 good/bads right off the top of my head.  Not perfect, but I'll take the 94% as a solid "A."  I think that's good enough! LOL

Moving on... the target is now just 75%.  This was a bit tougher though...

McKinnley, Republican:
Good: Economic and foreign policies laid the groundwork for those of TR.
Bad: I got nothin'.

Cleveland, Democrat:
Good: He’s honest. He’s honest. He’s honest. (That's was an actual quote about the man.) Also a strong leader, kind of a Democratic version of TR.
Bad: I got nothin'

Harrison’22, Republican:
Good: I got nothin'
Bad: I got nothin'

Arthur, Republican:
Good/Bad: Like several other VP’s who were thrust into office (Tyler, Filmore, Ford) he really just ran the course. Luckily there wasn’t much going on!
Ed Note: Count this as 1 point out of 2.

Garfield, Republican:
N/A: Got shot too early to DO anything.
Ed Note: Garfield and Harrison'9 will not be counter in the final tally.

Hayes, Republican:
Good: I got nothin'
Bad: A do-nothing who left most of the tough issues for his successor.

Grant, Republican:
Good: Finally got country backl on track follwing Civil War and Reconstruction.
Bad: Although the man himself was not necissarily part of it, the Grant administration was one of the two or three most corrupt in hostory.

Johnson’17, Democrat:
Good: I got nothin' (Although his impeachment was bullshit.)
Bad: Screwed up the Reconstruction.

Lincoln, Republican:
Good: Did no less than SAVE this country from an existential threat. Greatest defender and crusader for civil rights until LBJ.
Bad: NOTHING, he was the best, and just for this one, I'm counting this as a point!

Buchanan, Democrat:
Good: Nothing.  He was the worst, and just for this one, I'm counting this as a point!
Bad:  Did nothing while the country tore itself apart. Supported preservation of Slavery as a ‘States Rights’ issue.

Pierce, Democrat:
Good: I got nothin'.
Bad: Did nothing while the country tore itself apart. Supported preservation of Slavery as a ‘States Rights’ issue. (Yeah, just like Buchanan.)

Filmore, Whig:
Good: I got nothin'.
Bad: Like several other VP’s who were thrust into office (Tyler, Arthur, Ford) he really just ran the course… while the country tore itself apart. (Yeah, just like Buchanan and Pierce.)

Taylor, Whig:
Good: I got nothin'.
Bad: Made little progress on slavery issue – left it for others to address.

Polk, Democrat: 
Good: Oversaw greatest land expansion of any President.
Bad: Extension of Statehood is what kicked the slavery issue into high gear.

Tyler, Whig:
Good/Bad: Like several other VP’s who were thrust into office (Filmore, Arthur, Ford) he really just ran the course. Mishandled transition though, and alienated his own party.

Harrison’9, Whig:
N/A: Died WAAAAY to early in his term to say anything at all about him.
Ed Note: Garfield and Harrison'9 will not be counter in the final tally.

Van Buren, Democrat:
Good: I got nothin'.
Bad: First truly lousy president we’ve ever had.

Jackson, Democrat:
Good: One of the strongest men ever to hold the office. Was transformative in his economic policies. In many ways, he changed the role of the chief executive, and changed what people expected of the office.
Bad: If you want to pinpoint the beginning of the "imperial presidency" it's earliest roots would be in the Jackson presidency.

Adams’6, National Republican:
Good: I got nothin'
Bad: The first president we had that wasn’t stellar. Took muckraking to a new level in his campaign against Jackson. (Though it should be mentioned that Jackson did the same!)

Washington (Federalist), Adams'2 (Federalist), Jefferson (Democratic-Republican), Madison (Democratic-Republican) & Monroe (Democratic-Republican):
Good: All founding fathers, all fantastic successes, all legendary presidents.
Bad: Nothing bad to say, and I'm talking 5/5 here, I don't care!  (OK - Adams'2 wanted to be King.  He was kind of a kook.  Still one of the greatest Americans that ever lived.)

So there you go - 32/34 on the first part, and 23/44 on th second. So only 52% on the second part, but most boast was only that I could do 75%.  So that's about 69%%of the goal, or just D+ work. Oh well, sue me. LOL 

And if you see anything here that you find to be incorrect, remember: This was just off the top of my head, with no research involved.  And yes, that includes remembering them all, in order, and which party they belong to. ("Look at the big brain on Bret!" ~Jules Winfield) So yeah, there may be one or two things I got mixed up.

In any case, I may have exagerated my boats a LITTLE bit, but I'll stand by my judgment of George W. Bush as a complete failure and somewhere between the 3rd and 5th worst president of all time: Better than Hoover or Buchanan, on par with Pierce and Harding.