Good and Bad Presidents

I think it is a good exercise to sit down and write two lists of Presidents of which you have some working knowledge. One list would be comprised of bad presidents; those who are evil by nature and work only for the good of themselves and their cronies and have no care for the country they lead/led. The second list would be “good presidents”. Those who hearts are basically good, who care for the country and its citizens and who want to do the right thing by and for them.

Unless you are really twisted, I would think most folk would put practically every president we know on the good side whether we agreed with their politics or not.

Now there are marked differences in the abilities of presidents. Some are brilliant, some just above average and then there are a few that, well, um, just seem limited. But I don’t think that would necessarily make the bad or evil presidents.

There are presidents that have high personal moral and ethical standards and those who, um, uh, well just don’t. Again, it doesn’t mean they were good or bad presidents, in fact, there are many presidents who exemplify the morality of King David, yet provided great leadership despite the fact we love a good scandal to drag them down to the level of their constituents.

Now I have a marked preference for those presidents who have been progressive and have done far better work for their nation than others. And I think there have been presidents who have been led astray by powerful interests that went against the good of the nation. And there have been presidents who just could not get their agendas accomplished because of strong opposition. Strangely the common historical rating of presidents is based upon that premise: good presidents get their agendas done and bad presidents don’t get it done. I don’t agree with that. From that standpoint some of the worst despots in history would get great marks. History shows barbarians often win and civilizations development slowly.

So, following my own instructions I will deal with presidents from that standpoint beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt.

FDR I think was a good guy who brought a country together when it was badly needed. He began programs that brought us back from the economic sins of the previous century building the country and its people with strong programs that benefited most everybody. I wish that we had policies more like his today.

 

Harry S. Truman I think was also a good guy who had a hard act to follow. But he accepted responsibility for his job and did it to the best of his ability. Great, perhaps not, but a good man.

Dwight D. Eisenhower. Here is another good guy that I underrated for years. I thought the motto “I like Ike” was just dumb and he didn’t appear to work so very hard at the presidency and perhaps he didn’t need to. But he recognized the dangers of the military-industrial complex and the problems in could and has created very clearly. He also was great at building the infrastructure of the country beginning with interstate highways. It is too bad that was not followed up by following administrations and congress.

John F. Kennedy. A brilliant man possessing the courage he talked about in his book, Profiles in Courage; highlighting statesmen who had the courage of their convictions despite their popularity. This is the way government is supposed to work. Who knows what this man could have accomplished but he made a remarkable leader and invigorated and inspired the country.

Lyndon B. Johnson. He is not one of my favorites. He lifted his dogs up by his ears for pete’s sake, drove too fast and perhaps too good at politician wheeling and dealing and making deals. But he chose to right course on civil rights knowing it would likely cost him winning a future presidential election and waged war on poverty which we have obviously lost in recent times.

Richard Nixon. It would be an easy target to be put him in the bad guy camp, but I can’t do it. He lacked social graces and leadership ability. But he made great contributions in foreign policy in the East. I wish his policies on health care had been implemented, as they were far stronger than what we currently have. He was paranoid, did some bad things, but I believe he did things he thought were best for his country.

Gerald Ford. Perhaps he will just go down as a footnote in history as a nice guy that just got us through the nation’s scandal of the time.

 

Jimmy Carter. Likely was of the greatest “good” presidents in history who will not be remembered as such. His post presidency will likely be treated better than his presidency. Perhaps he was just too good of a man for his times as committed Christian folk are sometimes viewed.

Ronald Reagan. This is a tough one. I believe he was a man of very limited vision who began an era we are still suffering with economically. He made promises to the public that were obviously impossible to keep but he sold them to the public anyway. He made statements that were blatantly untrue but popular. For the life of me I cannot figure out why he was called the great communicator as he couldn’t put together a reasonable argument if he had too; but perhaps that was his appeal. I also have no doubt he thought he was doing the right thing and that wealthy folk could lead the country better than others and that free markets could really work if unfettered; something that even Adam Smith saw was impossible. But his memory is revered. I think he did great damage but it was not his intent to do so and the country was too lazy and complacent to see through his sophomoric thinking.

George H.W. Bush. I think he was a rich man who followed in the paths of the rich man’s president even though he saw through it earlier and called supply side economics “voodoo economics” which it was. He could say wonderful things such as “we should be a kindlier gentler nation,” and then turn and follow it with a poor rendition of an early Clint Eastwood movie and say, “make my day.” He got us into bed with the Middle East oil money and set up the conditions for inevitable conflict there. Again, I think his intentions were good if mistaken.

Bill Clinton. What can you say? He was likely one of the smartest and brightest presidents ever with encyclopedia knowledge of everything from soup to nuts. He could instill visions and was and stays charismatic in his personality, despite his sexual moral shortcomings. He too was far too much in bed with the wealthy and continued to give them what they wanted while pursuing a good social agenda. He was good at short term economics and was the only president of the era that whittled down the debt and had positive governmental balance.

George W. Bush. In my opinion he was pretty much a total washout as a president. He became a rich man not by his own bootstraps but via his daddy’s friends. He got a degree that many feel was largely purchased again by his daddy. His military history would likely of ended much differently for a not so well connected man. He began his presidency far too dependent on the advice, bad advice of others and then claims in his biography he was “The Decider” whatever that means. I think he was the most limited of modern presidents but that does not mean he had a bad heart. His greatest wisdom was laying low after he left office and does great good in medical care in Africa.

Barrack Obama. How on earth did he get elected president in an increasing money driven election era? A black man in a nation that still harbors too much racism. He is a very smart man who sounds like a college professor more than a beer drinking buddy we seem fond of. He is a constitutional lawyer with remarkable talent and a sense of history and government few can surpass. His book, “The Audacity of Hope” could easily be on the required list of reading for college folk especially in the field of political science. He is a man of vision and great ability who rose to prominence quickly and surprisingly and has more “cool” than most ever possess. Despite having a disastrous economic legacy dumped on him by his predecessor and congress he has slowly worked towards economic recovery. He got through a crippled but a nation wide health care plan that is historic. But he has been largely crippled by far right extremists that only seek to defeat whatever he puts forward. I’m not sure anybody in his position could have done better but I had hoped for so much more. He is not likely to go down in history as a great president because of the roadblocks he faced. He has made his share of mistakes compromised too much with wealthy power blocks in an effort to be bipartisan in a gridlocked era. Another good man that many pride themselves in demonizing. His story is far from over and says more about the citizenry than his leadership.

I think of all these presidents as good people with a variety of gifts. I have hopes for the nation and for future leadership, but have grave doubts as well. Unless we can get big money significantly out of politics we will remain a plutocracy rather than regain our democracy. And I wonder if we have the knowledge, the will and the know-how to bring that about.