Eisenhower – pretty good. The right man at the right time. A very good president. Perhaps not FDR-level great, but pretty good
Agreed, and unlike FDR, he didn’t intern thousands of Americans simply because of the country of origin
Kennedy – we’ll never know.
True, but on balance, pretty good.
Johnson – could have been one of the greats, if it weren’t for Vietnam.
No. He was a racist, and the Great Society programs were a disaster.
Nixon – a brilliant, but unfortunately crooked man. Disgraced his office and our country.
Ford – not bad, under the circumstances, but kind of a blip on the screen.
Nixon - a brilliant, but unfortunately crooked man. Disgraced his office and our country.
Ford – not bad, under the circumstances, but kind of a blip on the screen.
Carter – not as bad as is often thought, but won’t be remembered as a great president, either.
Agreed. Carter, at least, is a good man.
Reagan – not high on my list.
Without a doubt, the greatest president in my lifetime, and probably the best since Lincoln. No president in my lifetime comes close.
Bush I – actually a pretty decent president, but perhaps one with an outdated concept of what was needed for the country at that particular moment
Agreed, but maybe for different reasons than yours.
Clinton – another “could have been.” He had the brains, and the charisma, and the political smarts, but tried too hard to please too many, and moved too much to the center.
JFK aside, in many ways I consider Clinton the best Democrat president of my lifetime. That’s not saying much, but he balanced the budget with a Republican House. Gold Star for that.
Bush II – no, not one of the greats
He is a good man, and he handled 911 with grace and character. The Iraq war and his center-left handling of the economy were definitely poor choices.
Obama – very good. I think he might have been better if he’d waited a decade before running, but he saw the moment and seized it.
The worst in my lifetime, in terms of policy. Perhaps the worst president, policy-wise, since Wilson.
Trump – well, here we are. I don’t think history will remember him kindly.
If he doesn’t get spending under control, you are right.