Worst President Ever?

The Nation: Only Time Will Tell, But Bush Is Running A Good Race — To The Bottom

(The Nation)  This column was written by Nicholas von Hoffman.

---

A question that seems to be on everybody's mind these days turns out to be: Is George Bush the worst President in American history?

But how do you judge? Is he the most morally disgusting? The worst mangler of the English language? Ever since the atom bomb was dropped, we've had a whole string of bozos who cannot pronounce the word "nuclear." How much should that count against them?

Is John Tyler, our tenth President, a candidate for worst President? Some people who have never heard of this guy have heard of the campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too." Well, Tippecanoe (William Henry Harrison) lasted about a month in office before he died of a cold contracted while making his inaugural address, and the rest is non-history. Tyler is best remembered, if he is remembered at all, as the President whose entire Cabinet, save one, quit on him. Please do not confuse him with Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President, easily Tyler's equal in forgettability.

Is the most forgettable also the worst? Men like Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce and Benjamin Harrison (Tippecanoe's grandson) were more politically brain-dead than really bad. But not so with James Buchanan, No. 15, who was President from 1857 to 1861. Aside from being a dull, unimaginative, dray horse of a politician, he was the President whose cowardice in handling the South and slavery ended the remotest possibility that the United States would be spared the horrors of the Civil War.

The consequences of Buchanan's political poltroonery were long-lasting and dire, as contrasted with those of Warren Harding. Harding (No. 29) has won many Worst President contests because he had three or four truly stinky crooks in his administration to go along with an otherwise outstanding Cabinet. He was a slob with a drinking problem, and he was also afflicted with Bill Clinton's zipper disease. Since booze was illegal when he was President (1921-23), getting smashed in the White House made him a not-so-great role model — not that much of the country was paying attention since all the other adults in America were doing the same thing at the local speakeasy.

There is a great story about Harding in the closet making boom-boom with his girlfriend, and of his wife being restrained by the Secret Service guys from rushing in and exposing the President in the flagrantest of delictos. But worst President? Not so much.

Others proposed for the worst list include Herbert Hoover, James Madison, Ulysses Grant and Richard Nixon.

Hoover, Democratic propaganda to the contrary, did not cause the Great Depression nor was he indifferent to his people's sufferings. A brilliant, decent man, he was absolutely the unluckiest President.

Madison, the fourth President, justly called the Father of the Constitution, fits anyone's description of a great man, but he loused up the presidency by going to war against England in 1812 with no Army and not much more of a Navy. His foreign policies were so hated in New England that the young federal republic he had done so much to start almost blew apart. Worse was to come. Madison could do nothing when the Brits occupied Washington, D.C., and burned down the White House. But in the long run the consequences of his mistakes were minor, so he cannot have the "worst prexy" horse collar put around his neck.

Grant was too noble a man to be the worst anything. He had some crooks in his administration, but, like Harding, he had nothing to do with their corruption. On the plus side, he was the last President until Lyndon Johnson who would go to bat for black people.

As for Nixon, it's still too early to tell. Too many people still living hate him or love him. The decision on that strange, baggy-faced man belongs to Gen X and beyond.

Which brings us to Bush II. It's also too early to tell, but if first signs mean anything, he has got a lot to answer for. We know he is responsible for the death of a lot of people who never hurt him or us. We wonder if he has so disturbed the entire Middle East quadrant of the globe that years and years may pass while the people there and the people here suffer for what he has done. Will we get habeas corpus back? Will the thumb screw become standard operating procedure, or will it be returned to the Middle Ages whence George Bush found it?

One of the criteria for being worst is how much lasting damage the President did. Buchanan, for instance, did more than words can convey. With Bush II the reckoning is yet to be made.

[katg21]

Yeah, that's why he's serving a second term. Go ahead CBS, keep on feeding the idiots their opinions; Lord knows they can't form their own.

[rbfain]

It's one of these two. I would say Nixon might be ahead, but not by much.

Nixon -
Reagan -

[dallison7]

PLEASE GO TO: www.impeachbush.org

[dcshaw2]

If you are a liar you are a theif. If you are a theif you are a liar. Liars and theives walk hand in hand and birds of a feather stick together;- Remember that? As I posted previously, I think, in my opinion that is, WE need to tell the world WE made a huge mistake, a blunder in a most high sense. That Democracy does work and " WE THE PEOPLE " of this great nation are going to fix it by having an " Emergency Election " this November.

[jn122736]

I don%u2019t believe there could honestly be any doubt, by any rational thinking person, that this President has inflicted more damage on this and future generations than any past president ever did. I have read almost all of the comments here and many of the actual misdeeds have been mentioned, some repeatedly, but one that I haven%u2019t noticed is the lowering of the trust people will have in future presidents, at least for the foreseeable future.

I believe that several members of congress, like most average citizens, believed the president, or at least gave him the benefit of any doubts, when he presented his case (evidence) for military action.

He was believed Partly because of the anger over 911, but mostly because the office of president has always been respected and trusted. That respect and trust has been severely damaged.

If Americans (congress) were to take corrective and/or legal action now, we as a country could regain at least some of the respect we had before Bush.

[bodiddle49]

George Bush is by far the worst. How many more have to die? Who was the last president to ignore Congress and the courts? How many crimes, lies , and extortion has his administration been involved with? How many had costly wars based on lies? Maybe past History doesn't account for all the corruption, crime, and corporate neoconism, but unlike the past it will take hundreds of years to correct the problems this president has created.

[archiej2]

Bush's infamy will rest as an immoral president responsible for worldwide death, destruction and devastation. On the one had, Mr. Bush refuses to acknowledge the wealth of knowledge to be gained from stem-cell research yet he is apparently comfortable in permitting the people of Dafur to be subjected to mass torture and murder. There should be a collective outcry for impeachment of this president based on his alleged "trade policies" that have virtually destroyed the middle class. Contrary to the rhetoric of Mr. Bush's camp, he has placed this country in harms way by refusing to secure the borders and demand "fair" trade policies. One can only wonder what "war on terror" Mr. Bush is fighting when his policies permit anyone free access to this county via the Mexican border yet persecutes two Border Patrol agents who are now imprisoned based solely on the word of a convicted drug smuggler who was granted immunity.

[tejasdemo]

It's not just Bush. It is Bush, Cheney, and every Republican in this country who will be forever known as the biggest idiots with the most moronic fundamentalist agenda and policy in US History !

You people have screwed the country up for decades.

Go to hell.

[zoroastor]

Hey perception5

Did you go to college?
No doubt Carter was much more effective out of office than in. He was a lame duck at worst.

YOU are the WILLFULLY ignorant of which I speak.

I did my time in Iraq - so don't try to sell me any of your armchair general/politician bull$#!t.

You apparently are the one who needs to take a history course. And while you are at it, just try to be an objective learner - neither liberal or conservative. Try to think beyond your own wallet and self interest. I don't think you guys have the guts to see or admit to the truth.

And if my side of the argument is wrong, it won't be because it was greedy, self-centered and short sighted. Right or wrong, that's where your camp sits.

[fegner]

George Bush is just the tip of the big dirty iceburg known as the REPUBLICAN PARTY. They and their corporate bosses are disgracing America, looting the treasury and killing American soldiers (and many innocent people in other countries). Welcome to the "New American Century" concieved by the Republican NeoCom-men who have stolen the American government. Prosecution is the answer.

Let's hope the world court holds these criminals to account soon after 2008.