The competition is actually pretty stiff.
LBJ was a horrifying man, corrupt, mean-spirited and a bully. He got us deeply mired in vietnam, and created the vast "Great Society" social programs that are bankrupting us now.
Nixon was a smart man who overestimated the power of government and underestimated the venality of his enemies. A supposed conservative, he instituted wage and price controls and relations with communist China.
Jimmy Carter has to rank near the top of anyone's list of worst presidents. He managed to achieve the trifecta of ruining the economy, turning longtime ally Iran over to the islamofascists and giving the Soviets a greenlight for worldwide expansion. And of course, the crowning achievement of his presidency was the hostage crisis.
Bush 41 has a short but eventful tenure. He managed to soemhow encourage Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, then we had to go to war over it. In doing that, he allowed the Saudis, who we were supposedly saving, to dictate that our troops could not have or display any religious items, even crosses or Bibles. Nice. Then he turned Kuwait back over to the Emir, an unelected tyrant who hogged the country's oil wealth. It's ironic that Bush 43 justifies Iraq as installing democracy. Guess that wasn't as crucial when it was Bush's pal the emir. Bush 41 perhaps suffered from ADD. He ran on the famous slogan "Read my lips , no new taxes", then turned around and raised them when Democrats in congress demanded it. The voters in turn sent him a message, but unfortunately in doing so they elected an even worse liar , Bill clinton, who promptly raised taxes after promising to cut them.
Now we have Bush 43, whose list of accomplishments could be written on the back of stamp. He did cut taxes, if mainly the wrong ones. He did appoint some decent judges, even if he failed to fight for the rest of them. He...well guess that's about it. He mired us in a pointless war that got rid of the devil we knew and gave us who knows what. He has increased spending at rates even LBJ could only dream of. He has talked endlessly about security, but has allowed an invasion of illegal immigrants, and is plotting to make them citizens. Unlike other Republican Presidents, he has had his party controlling both houses of congress for nearly his entire term, so he can't really blame things on the opposition. No one has any idea what his agenda is now, but then again no one really cares.
Upon reflection, I think it is too harsh to call Bush 43 the worst. I think that title clearly belongs to Carter. Given the way he mishandled relatively simple crises, I shudder to think what would have happened if he had been president after 9/11. I think reasonable people could differ, but I put LBJ in second place. His genius to fight a jungle war of attrition against a foe willing to lose its entire population, and at the same time give the enemy sanctuaries and protected supply lines, has to go down as one of the alltime criminally stupid military strategies. Third place? Too early to say, but I really think Bush 43 could be a contender. The only thing saving him is the conservatives in congress, because left to his own devices, he'd turn this country into a colony of mexico.
LBJ was a horrifying man, corrupt, mean-spirited and a bully. He got us deeply mired in vietnam, and created the vast "Great Society" social programs that are bankrupting us now.
Nixon was a smart man who overestimated the power of government and underestimated the venality of his enemies. A supposed conservative, he instituted wage and price controls and relations with communist China.
Jimmy Carter has to rank near the top of anyone's list of worst presidents. He managed to achieve the trifecta of ruining the economy, turning longtime ally Iran over to the islamofascists and giving the Soviets a greenlight for worldwide expansion. And of course, the crowning achievement of his presidency was the hostage crisis.
Bush 41 has a short but eventful tenure. He managed to soemhow encourage Saddam Hussein to invade Kuwait, then we had to go to war over it. In doing that, he allowed the Saudis, who we were supposedly saving, to dictate that our troops could not have or display any religious items, even crosses or Bibles. Nice. Then he turned Kuwait back over to the Emir, an unelected tyrant who hogged the country's oil wealth. It's ironic that Bush 43 justifies Iraq as installing democracy. Guess that wasn't as crucial when it was Bush's pal the emir. Bush 41 perhaps suffered from ADD. He ran on the famous slogan "Read my lips , no new taxes", then turned around and raised them when Democrats in congress demanded it. The voters in turn sent him a message, but unfortunately in doing so they elected an even worse liar , Bill clinton, who promptly raised taxes after promising to cut them.
Now we have Bush 43, whose list of accomplishments could be written on the back of stamp. He did cut taxes, if mainly the wrong ones. He did appoint some decent judges, even if he failed to fight for the rest of them. He...well guess that's about it. He mired us in a pointless war that got rid of the devil we knew and gave us who knows what. He has increased spending at rates even LBJ could only dream of. He has talked endlessly about security, but has allowed an invasion of illegal immigrants, and is plotting to make them citizens. Unlike other Republican Presidents, he has had his party controlling both houses of congress for nearly his entire term, so he can't really blame things on the opposition. No one has any idea what his agenda is now, but then again no one really cares.
Upon reflection, I think it is too harsh to call Bush 43 the worst. I think that title clearly belongs to Carter. Given the way he mishandled relatively simple crises, I shudder to think what would have happened if he had been president after 9/11. I think reasonable people could differ, but I put LBJ in second place. His genius to fight a jungle war of attrition against a foe willing to lose its entire population, and at the same time give the enemy sanctuaries and protected supply lines, has to go down as one of the alltime criminally stupid military strategies. Third place? Too early to say, but I really think Bush 43 could be a contender. The only thing saving him is the conservatives in congress, because left to his own devices, he'd turn this country into a colony of mexico.
