Who Were the Best Presidents? An Introduction

The debate about who was the best U.S. President continues to rage, and it can be difficult to answer this question. While Lincoln is still the President who stands out for many, the debate over the best U.S. President, or even the five best, still rages on. So here is a list of seven former Presidents who have all been considered among the best either by historians, political science professors, or the good old masses of common people.

There are three Republicans, three Democrats, and the only unaffiliated on the list, placed in chronological order. So enjoy, and please feel free to leave feedback, but keep it civil and factual in discussions: if you want to debate give positive reasons for your favorites, don’t cut others down!

Bill Clinton, Democratic Party. Although his Presidency was full of controversy, it is hard to argue with the numbers. The lowest unemployment rate ever, the biggest economic boon in history, a five trillion dollar deficit paid off, budgets balanced, and minimum wage rose. The negatives were all the scandals, some which were definitely political witch hunts, others which appear very legitimate. He left office even after all the scandals with a 65% approval rating, the highest since FDR shortly after his death. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying the economy of the 1990′s was far superior to anything before or later.

This jerk-off doesn’t even care about him!
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh

And while he blabbered on and on about harsher sentencing for drug use he himself is an addict. Of all things??? Hillbilly Heroin!!! The guy is a fucking moron.

“But just what has Mr. Limbaugh done? How serious a drug offender is he?

Here is what the record to date shows: Mr. Limbaugh’s housekeeper, Wilma Cline, approached Florida media and Florida authorities to reveal that she had acted as Rush Limbaugh’s drug buyer for years, purchasing “more than 30,000 hydrocodone, Lorcet and OcyContin pills,” and she reports he “took as many as 30 OxyContin pills a day.”**** Florida authorities then began investigating, and Ms. Cline’s allegations have apparently proved solid, certainly solid enough for the State of Florida to take action.

This means, of course, that for quite a long period Mr. Limbaugh was heavily abusing prescription narcotics while continuing to conduct his radio talk show. In short, this means that Mr. Limbaugh was often under the influence of drugs when he was on the air, delivering a hard right-wing message. To be truly blunt, it appears he was stoned while adhering to a position that anyone who uses drugs should be incarcerated.

Obviously this is the very definition of hypocrisy” 30 Oxy a day meant he was using them for quite sometime. He wasn’t even catching a buzz any longer. He had to take that many so he would not start convulsing and just feel normal that sick fukc. I don’t give a shit what he says about what. It’s his followers that believe his crap that scare me. It’s like listening to a drunk becoming a Subject Matter Expert no matter what topic comes up. Even if the lush knows a thing or two it freaking boring to listen to. They enhance, embellish, repetitive, obnoxious and they just plain fukced up! Now what does this say about the people who follow Rush and would probably do anything for him. Some would say, not much. Just a bunch of right wingers without any information. Half truth I say. These followers are as batty as he is with bird-shit for brains. You can see it running out their nose. They are freaks who THINK like Rush but are afraid, scared, lack of knowledge makes anyone fearful. Go to the southeast, you’ll see thousands of them in Walmart. And speak of; Walmart is now the largest company in the world from a revenue standpoint. Hey Rush Peckerhead Junkie Limski, what can you mumble when you come out of your self induced hillbilly heroin coma that justifies Walmart paying Americans shit (you don’t give a shit though, you’re making 40 million a yr) and everything is made in China. I think it’s fucking awesome that your followers are too fucking stupid to see what’s happening and they shop there. It’s freaking pathetic. Rush; watch any good lawyer shows lately? Learn anything? If it wasn’t for Morton you would have amounted to a poor Dr. Shopper instead of a failure rich one. Your followers know about that crap. Couldn’t quite stand-up to the family business so lets self medicate and rip everyone else apart to hopefully feel good bout yourself. Problem is, it isn’t working now is it. You’re gonna end up like an O.J. (O.J. at least has some talent at one time so you’re not quite as good as a brother. Oh that pissed you off didn’t it. I bet you just downed a few Oxy, huh??? Hey, weren’t you buds with that 5 Oxy “contin” clean guy? Now there’s a crime. All jacked up, making dough, young guy and blamed the hearse for taking him to his grave. I but you will as well. You’re a weird fucking obnoxious idiot RL. Why people like you catch the golden breaks amaze me.

I can only go with that you made a deal at the crossroads. You got hell to pay someday. But I hear it’s not a bad place to stay. See you round pali!

The kind of extreme nationalism current in America is, for many historic reasons, explainable but not healthy. Extreme nationalism – the “we’re better than everyone else” variety – leads to all kinds of mischief done by politicians who fan those particular flames. Madison, in the early days of the republic, warned, for instance, that wars were used as excuses to curtail freedom. We’ve seen that very recently.

If anything is better in America, it is that we still have a government which is accountable to the people, although not nearly as accountable as it should be. Human beings living in Alabama are no better, or worse, for that fact than human beings living in Algeria or Albania. History, culture, and dozens of other antecedents account for the superficial differences, which are at the end of the day very small.

The best defense against any authoritarianism is education, and access to as much information from as many different sources as possible. The Web press has done a remarkable job in widening this horizon. Hope is that it will be enough.

It’s frightening to think about the alternatives: the world as seen by Sarah Palin, society as envisioned by Osama bin Laden, etc.