Who was the best president of the last fifty years?

William Jefferson Clinton led the largest peace-time economic expansion in the history of our Union. During his 8-year administration, we had the least amount of military skirmishes in a long, long time. He was also, although our Conservative friends will deny it, a great proponent of good cops and well-equipped police forced across the country. Clinton really should be in the top 6 or so, but some people can only concentrate themselves on what he did with his penis. That is a shame.

 

It was a fine act, America felt young and invigorated by his youthful Presidency and pretty and sophisticated wife, it was new on the political scene, but he cared more about 19-year old intern's and blonde movie stars, supplied like fine wine routinely by Peter Lawford, who was Kennedy's Hollywood pimp, and JFK shared his ladies with his brother's. He loved his cortizone for his bad back, which gave him his youthful vigor, and valium dispensed like jelly beans in the White House by Doctor Feel Good, than he did about the country. One of the reason's Robert F. Kennedy insisted on a "generic" autopsy of his brother at Bethesda Naval Hospital, instead of a criminal autopsy of a murder victim, was because the major criminal autopsy would have shown his brother to be a drug addict. RFK was Attorney General, he had that power to dictate it. That's why they sealed the photos for 25 years, and created all the hysteria about murder conspiracies regarding his shocking assassination. Jackie Kennedy got a free pass by the Warren Commission investigating the assassination, testifying she had no recollection of her actions before, during and immediately after the shots were fired at the motorcade in Dallas, probably because she was afraid she would be killed next. In the temper of those times and the media, her death following immediately upon that of JFK's, would have resulted in an American revolution, so she kept her mouth shut all those years........

I am pretty sure the white supremist crowd took Kennedy out, with help from inside with the CIA and the Mafia as the tool, but he was, in J.Edgar Hoover, FBI Director's words, a "disease in the Oval Office." Hoover had the goods on all the Kennedy's, that's why JFK put Robert F. Kennedy in as Attorney General, to reign over Hoover, a 25-year Washington neighbor of Lyndon Johnson. Hoover himself was gay and a cross-dresser, but he had so much political dirt on the Washington crowd, that nobody dared mention it until they were absolutely sure he was truly dead.

In essence, by today's standards, Kennedy's administration actually resembles the Truman one in foreign policy problems (Berlin and Cuba), and Eisenhower in progressive legislation - Civil Right's; Space Race; deficit, and would fall into a GOP Conservative rather than today's Democratic progressive agenda. Of course, like Lincoln, his assassination, on the main streets of Dallas, Texas, in front of Walgreen's, was a stunningly horrible wake up call to American's, one which sticks with that generation the way Pearl Harbor and Roosevelt's death sticks with the World War II generation. The Kennedy's in office, fiddled with fire on Civil Right's with the white supremist Southern agenda, and it cost them, of course, he is immortalized now, and the truth will never be known about him...........

 

You have to put Lincoln ahead of Washington, because he took office with only half of the United States in existence, and saved the union, otherwise we would be under British, French or Spanish rule, or a bunch of banana republics of scattered countries across the North American continent. Washington set the precedents for the office, but Lincoln fought a war to retain the country, and yes, usurped more power than anybody, because that was what was needed to survive as a nation.

Teddy Roosevelt set the modern "bully pulpit" stage for the American Presidency, his cousin Franklin Roosevelt refined it in spades, and saved the country when we were on the brink of collapse, that ranks FDR as Number 3 in my book. Truman was an honest man who was faced with numerous major foreign policy disaster's which he managed to negotiate through with fine skill and honesty, pushes him up in the Top Ten, while Eisenhower enjoyed a major era of peace, and was the type of guy who could get elected forever by the people.

Some men define the Presidency as theirs - Lincoln; Teddy Roosevelt; Franklin Roosevelt; Eisenhower; Kennedy; Nixon, Reagan and Clinton. Other's are defined by how outside events were handled; Truman falls in that group along with both Bush's, Carter and Obama. Only Truman stands out high on that list, always surprising how someone with George H.W. Bush's background and training failed at the Presidency. Not surprising why Carter's moralizing and scold tone failed with America. Bush, Jr. and Obama are political twins, and Trump and Hillary are on their own star paths, one doesn't have any idea what they might do if elected.

Nixon, minus Watergate, which really didn't do much damage to the American psyche other than his own, stands out as probably the best of the lot, with Ike second. Kennedy's "potential" is always interesting to speculate on, but gone too soon, and he had personal problems anyways. Reagan's 8-years of optimism easily trumped Carter's four as official scold while Clinton enjoyed a remarkable time free of foreign policy problems and was allowed to concentrate on domestic policies - most of them distasteful to the American body politic, but he set the way for the LBGT crowd, women's feminism dominating the Democratic Party, Black advancement, despite his own whore mongering in office (like Kennedy's, which were kept secret for 20-years), The U.S. Military suffered greatly under Clinton, so I am not a particular fan of his, and certainly not one of his wife.

As pointed out, Bush, Jr. and Obama are bookends of the same story, one from the right, one front the left, polarizing President's, whose legacy will never be resurrected to "great or near great" standards.

For today? I would pick a Richard Nixon or a Harry Truman to occupy the Presidency, despite their political bent in either direction, it would be extremely welcomed and needed. Reagan was surprisingly good to great, but Nixon was a master...........

 

If Obama can destroy china, then he is the best.

 

Best. Reply. Ever.

 

I like that Clinton is 2 even though I think he was quantitatively the best by a fairly wide margin.

The thing that people liked about Reagan was that he was basically a decent human individual. Most of the others were too, but it is not their major salient characteristic. Goodness is like bravery, You can forgive a good man quite a bit, but this is also why lots of people "fake" how good they are. The ironic thing is that even if they fake it, they're still being good, just like most people fake being brave, but very often consequently ARE brave without meaning to be.....sorta...

C.S. Forester wrote a book called, "The General" whose title character rose high in military rank because, among other things, he was just too stupid to realize he was in danger most times, and so acquired a reputation for great bravery.

 

Reads like the after-military political biography of Colin Powell............

 

Nixon would be my choice, best by far.

 

If you are a liberal other than Watergate you should easily consider him the best

 

Within that group, undoubtedly Reagan.

 

What was good about Clinton who so dirty the office with his sleazy behavior and then committed felonies in a federal court when he perjured himself over his behavior with federal employees IN THE OVAL OFFICE.

 

The longest sustained period of growth post WWII, a record 23 million additional jobs created, poverty levels dropping to all time lows, stock markets tripling even with the correction, the unemployment rate dropping to the lowest level in decades, real incomes rising for all income classes, and the best average annual real GDP growth since the 1960s. Oh yeah, and a then record deficit turning into a surplus.

 

What do you expect from the party that touts "Family Values" and then gives some of their own politicians who cheat on their wives, waste tax-payer money to go visit them in other countries, a pass....they can only attack the personal lives of Democratic Presidents because when it comes to economics or making the country better for all citizens, Republican Presidents suck big time.

 

I asked what was good about Clinton, not the economy he inherited and then was sent into overdrive by Republican policies he opposed.

What did HE do from which you give him credit for those accomplishments?

- - - Updated - - -

Clinton's actions with subordinate government employees, his behavior in the Oval office and his walking into a federal court and committing perjury when he was being sued by one of those former government employees were not merely personal.

 

Thanks to a Republican congress. I will give you we havent had as good a president since then

 

Nothing was ever proven. Paula Jones just wanted money, got paid by GOP to make up a story and then settled out court (got more money)....what a sleaze bag....and all that witch hunting from the right only wasted tax-payer money.

Why would anyone vote for a party that doesn't do anything for the economy, or the people of America, but spends most of its time looking for scandals where there are none and making up bull(*)(*)(*)(*) that doesn't exist? It is beyond me how those clowns still get the support of so many people....that Faux News does a good job of brainwashing them.

 

[video=youtube;hMr3KtYUCcI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMr3KtYUCcI[/video]

 

How about all these?

Eileen Wellstone, 19-year-old English woman who said Clinton sexually assaulted her after she met him at a pub near the Oxford where the future President was a student in 1969. A retired State Department employee, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that he spoke with the family of the girl and filed a report with his superiors. Clinton admitted having sex with the girl, but claimed it was consensual. The victim's family declined to pursue the case;
In 1972, a 22-year-old woman told campus police at Yale University that she was sexually assaulted by Clinton, a law student at the college. No charges were filed, but retired campus policemen contacted by Capitol Hill Blue confirmed the incident. The woman, tracked down by Capitol Hill Blue last week, confirmed the incident, but declined to discuss it further and would not give permission to use her name;
In 1974, a female student at the University of Arkansas complained that then-law school instructor Bill Clinton tried to prevent her from leaving his office during a conference. She said he groped her and forced his hand inside her blouse. She complained to her faculty advisor who confronted Clinton, but Clinton claimed the student ''came on'' to him. The student left the school shortly after the incident. Reached at her home in Texas, the former student confirmed the incident, but declined to go on the record with her account. Several former students at the University have confirmed the incident in confidential interviews and said there were other reports of Clinton attempting to force himself on female students;
Broaddrick, a volunteer in Clinton's gubernatorial campaign, said he raped her in 1978. Mrs. Broaddrick suffered a bruised and torn lip, which she said she suffered when Clinton bit her during the rape;
From 1978-1980, during Clinton's first term as governor of Arkansas, state troopers assigned to protect the governor were aware of at least seven complaints from women who said Clinton forced, or attempted to force, himself on them sexually. One retired state trooper said in an interview that the common joke among those assigned to protect Clinton was "who's next?". One former state trooper said other troopers would often escort women to the governor's hotel room after political events, often more than one an evening;
Carolyn Moffet, a legal secretary in Little Rock in 1979, said she met then-governor Clinton at a political fundraiser and shortly thereafter received an invitation to meet the governor in his hotel room. "I was escorted there by a state trooper. When I went in, he was sitting on a couch, wearing only an undershirt. He pointed at his penis and told me to suck it. I told him I didn't even do that for my boyfriend and he got mad, grabbed my head and shoved it into his lap. I pulled away from him and ran out of the room."
Elizabeth Ward, the Miss Arkansas who won the Miss America crown in 1982, told friends she was forced by Clinton to have sex with him shortly after she won her state crown. Last year, Ward, who is now married with the last name of Gracen (from her first marriage), told an interviewer she did have sex with Clinton but said it was consensual. Close friends of Ward, however, say she still maintains privately that Clinton forced himself on her.
Paula Corbin, an Arkansas state worker, filed a sexual harassment case against Clinton after an encounter in a Little Rock hotel room where the then-governor exposed himself and demanded oral sex. Clinton settled the case with Jones recently with an $850,000 cash payment.
Sandra Allen James, a former Washington, DC, political fundraiser says Presidential candidate-to-be Clinton invited her to his hotel room during a political trip to the nation's capital in 1991, pinned her against the wall and stuck his hand up her dress. She says she screamed loud enough for the Arkansas State Trooper stationed outside the hotel suite to bang on the door and ask if everything was all right, at which point Clinton released her and she fled the room. When she reported the incident to her boss, he advised her to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to keep working. Miss James has since married and left Washington. Reached at her home last week, the former Miss James said she later learned that other women suffered the same fate at Clinton's hands when he was in Washington during his Presidential run.
Christy Zercher, a flight attendant on Clinton's leased campaign plane in 1992, says Presidential candidate Clinton exposed himself to her, grabbed her breasts and made explicit remarks about oral sex. A video shot on board the plane by ABC News shows an obviously inebriated Clinton with his hand between another young flight attendant's legs. Zercher said later in an interview that White House attorney Bruce Lindsey tried to pressure her into not going public about the assault.
Kathleen Willey, a White House volunteer, reported that Clinton grabbed her, fondled her breast and pressed her hand against his genitals during an Oval Office meeting in November, 1993. Willey, who told her story in a 60 Minutes interview, became a target of a White House-directed smear campaign after she went public.

Im sure they are all liars.

 

probably. Ford is the most underrated and Kennedy the most overrated

How anyone could pick Carter is beyond comprehension. he was a failure in every aspect of the presidency and his threatened goon tactics of Olympic athletes who wanted to compete under the IOC flag was something that should have caused that clown to be impeached and subject to massive civil rights lawsuits.

 

Why is JFK on a list of presidents of "the last 50 years"?

 

Was between JFK and Reagan, but ultimately went with Reagan.

 

Your name is socialism works and you pick Kennedy as one of your choices? you do realize he was firmly anti-communist and anti-socialist?

Kennedy would be a conservative republican in the present day....

I picked Reagan for economic reasons...

 

He also created the mortgage bubble with his CRA...

 

Thing about socialists, they are not as blinkered to the party line as republicans.

 

I think one could be a republican and a socialist at the same time perhaps... I think RINO's are a good example of that..