Wednesday, January 21, 2009
WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER. OR WAS HE?
Yeah, ol' W was a prize. But you know what? I doubt he'll go down in history as the absolute WORST president we ever had. That's because there have been SO MANY totally inept clods who've run this country in the past.
About two years ago, US News and World Report published their list of the worst presidents:
1. James Buchanan
2. Warren G. Harding
3. Andrew Johnson
4. Franklin Pierce
5. Millard Fillmore
6. John Tyler
7. Ulysses S. Grant
8. William Harrison
9. Herbert Hoover | Richard Nixon (tie)
10. Zachary Taylor
Now, do you knock Zak Taylor out of the list to put W in it? Or do you pair him up with someone, like Hoover and Nixon are?
I can see why a lot of these guys are here, in the order that they are.
Buchanan is a good choice for worst. With America on the verge of splitting, he refused to do anything about it. He was pretty much the last nail in the coffin for peace before the Civil War.
Harding hired his friends for cabinet posts, and most of them ended up going to jail. (Shades of W there, except the jail part.) Harding likely would have joined them if he hadn't died.
Andrew Johnson pretty much reversed any progress that blacks had made in the south because of Lincoln.
Pierce, Fillmore and Tyler all contributed to the problems that led to the Civil War. At best they were do-nothings; at worst, they were pro-South.
Grant: Hero. Hires friends. Friends turn on him. Teapot Dome. The Harding of his century.
Hoover/Nixon: Depression/Watergate. And don't say Hoover couldn't help it. He truly believed that economic downturns simply had to run their course, and there was no way you could influence them one way or another. He survived another 31 years after leaving office, and his opinions on fiscal frugality never wavered. (There are some great videos of Hoover on the Internet where, even in the 1950s, he hasn't learned his lesson.) As for Nixon, don't get me started. Even worse than Watergate, and this is something I will NEVER understand, he allowed the CIA to overthrow the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED president of Chile, Salvador Allende, because the people chose to elect a communist. (I had a friend in high school who emigrated with his folks from Chile in order to avoid being shot. Thanks, Dick.)
Harrison and Taylor: They both died shortly after taking office. You can't call a guy the "worst president" when he hasn't had the opportunity to do anything. And Taylor was actually an okay guy. Anti-slavery; got California admitted to the union, anti-secession. Harrison spent his whole administration in bed with pneumonia and died in a month.
Where, if anywhere, does W fit in here? Near the bottom, for sure. If his successor gets us on the road to fixing everything, I would imagine immediate opinion of Bush will soften a bit, to the point that people might have trouble remembering anything he did. Or remembering him at all.
Which would be fine with me.
------
This Saturday is the Glendale Songwriters Gathering! 10-4 at the main library on 59th Avenue! Come watch me play at 12:40!
TT
Yeah, ol' W was a prize. But you know what? I doubt he'll go down in history as the absolute WORST president we ever had. That's because there have been SO MANY totally inept clods who've run this country in the past.
About two years ago, US News and World Report published their list of the worst presidents:
1. James Buchanan
2. Warren G. Harding
3. Andrew Johnson
4. Franklin Pierce
5. Millard Fillmore
6. John Tyler
7. Ulysses S. Grant
8. William Harrison
9. Herbert Hoover | Richard Nixon (tie)
10. Zachary Taylor
Now, do you knock Zak Taylor out of the list to put W in it? Or do you pair him up with someone, like Hoover and Nixon are?
I can see why a lot of these guys are here, in the order that they are.
Buchanan is a good choice for worst. With America on the verge of splitting, he refused to do anything about it. He was pretty much the last nail in the coffin for peace before the Civil War.
Harding hired his friends for cabinet posts, and most of them ended up going to jail. (Shades of W there, except the jail part.) Harding likely would have joined them if he hadn't died.
Andrew Johnson pretty much reversed any progress that blacks had made in the south because of Lincoln.
Pierce, Fillmore and Tyler all contributed to the problems that led to the Civil War. At best they were do-nothings; at worst, they were pro-South.
Grant: Hero. Hires friends. Friends turn on him. Teapot Dome. The Harding of his century.
Hoover/Nixon: Depression/Watergate. And don't say Hoover couldn't help it. He truly believed that economic downturns simply had to run their course, and there was no way you could influence them one way or another. He survived another 31 years after leaving office, and his opinions on fiscal frugality never wavered. (There are some great videos of Hoover on the Internet where, even in the 1950s, he hasn't learned his lesson.) As for Nixon, don't get me started. Even worse than Watergate, and this is something I will NEVER understand, he allowed the CIA to overthrow the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED president of Chile, Salvador Allende, because the people chose to elect a communist. (I had a friend in high school who emigrated with his folks from Chile in order to avoid being shot. Thanks, Dick.)
Harrison and Taylor: They both died shortly after taking office. You can't call a guy the "worst president" when he hasn't had the opportunity to do anything. And Taylor was actually an okay guy. Anti-slavery; got California admitted to the union, anti-secession. Harrison spent his whole administration in bed with pneumonia and died in a month.
Where, if anywhere, does W fit in here? Near the bottom, for sure. If his successor gets us on the road to fixing everything, I would imagine immediate opinion of Bush will soften a bit, to the point that people might have trouble remembering anything he did. Or remembering him at all.
Which would be fine with me.
------
This Saturday is the Glendale Songwriters Gathering! 10-4 at the main library on 59th Avenue! Come watch me play at 12:40!
TT
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