Presidents' Day Poll

[innerSpaceman]

PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEKEND! A Holiday to celebrate the Presidents!

It used to be Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's Birthday ... but when the holidays were combined in the Nixon era, it was someone's bright idea to celebrate all the Presidents.

* * * * *

So, of the Presidents serving in your lifetime, who has been your fave?

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume I'm among the oldest .... but if anyone remembers a President before JFK, feel free to post about your write-in candidate.

So who did you like, and why?

I didn't want to make the poll the negative version, as in "Who's Your Most Reviled President" - - but feel free to post about your most loathed POTUS and why, as well.

[katiesue]

I rather liked Carter. But then again it was Jr. High. But I remember him the most. And for his good works since. It's not really for any political reasons I just liked him as a person.

[mousepod]

Picking a favorite POTUS from this list reminds me of my choice every time I go to the polls to vote for one: the least bad candidate usually gets my vote.
In this case, I went out on a limb and didn't pick the most ineffectual or innocuous, though if I were a little older, my second choice may have been my first.

[Alex]

Technically I go back to Ford but if you go by memory I would have to start with Reagan which doesn't leave a very interesting list.

Carter and Bush Sr. are probably the best people but weren't really good or effective presidents.

Forced to choose between Clinton and Reagan I ultimately have to go with Reagan.

[Sub la Goon]

I heart Bubba.

[scaeagles]

Anyone like to posit a guess as to whom I cast my vote for?

[€uroMeinke]

I'll have to ponder this one a bit - JFK is a bit too easy a pick for all the mythology that's developed around him. If Nixon weren't mixed up in the MCarthy thing, I might warm to him over the whole Nixon in China thing. I thought it cool Carter was in the Nuke Navy, I think he got a bad rap for starting a turn around that Reagan would take credit for (as all Presidents do). Clinton's the only one I ever met personally - huge hands on that man - And I think, getting a blow-job in the Oval office a plus, but then I have to go back to JFK again as the much swankier Womanizer - and Hello Jackie O? Yeah, I guess I'll stick with him.

[Snowflake]

Well, Carter was my first voting experience in 1980. As a human being, post presidential, Carter still gets my vote and he did today.

JFK is one of my earliest memories, I was barely 3 when he died, but I grew up with the mythology and he was long my favorite president. Indiscretions, heck, they all have them. He was friends with the Rat Pack, tres swanky.

[mistyisjafo]

I was a big JFK fan growing up and I read several biographys. My second choice would be Regan.

[wendybeth]

I went with JFK, even though I was only a few months old when he was killed. Second would be Clinton.

[sleepyjeff]

. If Nixon weren't mixed up in the MCarthy thing, I might warm to him over the whole Nixon in China thing..... ....I have to go back to JFK again as the much swankier Womanizer - and Hello Jackie O? Yeah, I guess I'll stick with him.


JFK is one of my earliest memories, I was barely 3 when he died, but I grew up with the mythology and he was long my favorite president. Indiscretions, heck, they all have them. He was friends with the Rat Pack, tres swanky.

I was a big JFK fan growing up and I read several biographys. ...

So you all like someone who was...

Known for funny ways he pronounced certain words.

Used fathers influence to get into a certain branch of the Military.

A member of a family that was good friends to Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Won the Presidency by the narrowest of margins.

Launched an attack on a Country which had not attacked the US.

Vastly expanded funding for education and medicare for the elderly.

Made cutting taxes an administration priority.

Had a younger brother, often touted as a Presidential hopeful himself, who was also very active in politics.


;)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Me, I like Reagan, of course:)

[€uroMeinke]

So you all like someone who was...

Known for funny ways he pronounced certain words.

Used fathers influence to get into a certain branch of the Military.

A member of a family that was good friends to Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Won the Presidency by the narrowest of margins.

Launched an attack on a Country which had not attacked the US.

Vastly expanded funding for education and medicare for the elderly.

Made cutting taxes an administration priority.

Had a younger brother, often touted as a Presidential hopeful himself, who was also very active in politics.


;)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Me, I like Reagan, of course:)

But he clearly was the better looking and got the prettiest girls, including his wife - oh and the space race? would there have been a Tomorrowland without JFK?

[Alex]

Very likely, since Tomorrowland preceded JFK by 5 years and the Space Race by three years (which was initiated by Eisenhower in response to Sputnik).

[scaeagles]

Perhaps we need an approach to the border similar to JFKs approach to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I have a great respect for JFK. That man had serious balls/guts/cajones -whatever you want to call it - to use that naval blockade.

I wonder, though, how that would be perceived today. Seriously. He was directly interfering with the relations of two nations. We didn't have the right to stop those missiles from being put in Cuba. I bring this up being a total proponent of of what he did.

The Bay of Pigs was one of the biggest intelligence failures ever.

I don't think JFK could be considered a democrat today. I'd vote for JFK in a heart beat because of his policies.

Carter....not a prayer. He is certainly the worst President of my lifetime, and among the worst ever. This is all my opinion, of course. His foreign policy sucked, his domestic policy sucked, and while I certainly respect the humanitarian work he has embarked upon after his Presidency, I think lately he has gone off the deep end, with (and admittedly I know very little about this) plagarism and outright lies in his book on the Middle East.

[Alex]

I would also turn it around and wonder how the space race would have been diminished if it weren't for Tomorrowland and Disney's pro-space propaganda.

[Sub la Goon]

I still heart Bubba.

[3894]

I like Carter.

I don't understand Reagan's appeal. And if we had a Most Lurid First Lady, surely Mrs. Reagan would win.

[Stan4dSteph]

Of those from my lifetime, I'll go with Clinton.

[innerSpaceman]

Apparently, it's not really "Presidents Day" at all.

When Congress moved the celebration of Washington's Birthday to the third Monday in February, they specifically rejected making it "Presidents Day." But, perhaps because the holiday always falls between Lincoln's Birthday and Washington's, it became Presidents Day in the public consciousness. It certainly didn't help that most states subsequently dropped Lincoln's Birthday, fostering the impression of a merger.

It's used as Presidents Day on calendars, in advertising, and by many government agencies. Richard Nixon "proclaimed" it Presidents Day in 1971, but that did not make it so. It's still officially "Washington's Birthday."


* * * *

That said ... hmmmm, my fave? I'm awful tempted to go with JFK, the president I remember the least of (certainly an advantage considering the scurvy list of presidents in my lifetime). There's the sheer swankiness and overwhemling mythos ... plus that martyrdom thing that forms one of my earliest memories.


But I guess it's not fair to go with a President who's actual term in office is not remembered by me. So I'm gonna have to go with Clinton. Blcch, I liked the guy, but that choice leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Insert Oval Office Pun Here.

I guess my point is ... even with a fairly decent sampling of 9 Pressies over the past four-plus decades .... the POTUSes (Potusi??) have pretty much sucked.

And I wonder if it's always been so.

[thecorndogwalker]

Gripes after a full week of working I wanted to just relax and go to DL, but since our pres day weekend my AP doesnt allow me to go this weekend..
I voted for Clinton..

But I think F.D.R was pretty cool... he even sang with little orphan annie..

[Alex]

Probably. Name an accomplishment of a president between Lincoln and McKinley. Or between Madison and Lincoln.

When trying to think about which of our recent presidents will be well remembered in another 100 years I think Reagan is most likely to be so for any particularly positive reason. In terms of historical significance I think the welfare reform of Clinton is way up there with the civil service reform of Chester A. Arthur and look at how well he's remembered by a grateful nation.

I have no doubt that Carter is the best human being in the bunch but in 50 years he's going to be the one that kids in 5th grade have trouble remembering on their history tests (to go along with Benjamin Harrison, Zachary Tyler, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce).

My problem with Carter isn't his politics but his political ineptitude. He had the right beliefs but neither the backbone nor ability to see them through (for example, he is the only president to significantly resist the corrupt water policies of the Western United States but couldn't even control his own executive branch agencies from undercutting him with congress).

I'm not a proponent of a powerful executive so I am mostly fine with the fact that our presidents are quickly forgotten after their term. The best remembered presidents are, for the most part, the ones who fostered a certain national mood (regardless of whether anything in particular came out of it) and that is why I think Kennedy (somewhat unjustly since he gets the glory of never seeing the downslope; I suspect he'd have ended his term in office nearly as unpopular as LBJ ended up being) and Reagan are the only two real candidates on the list.

But then, my personal favorite president (Polk) provoked the most openly expansionist war in our history and was generally considered quite the asshole.

[sleepyjeff]

According the Misery Index, our current President is ranked 6th( 1 being the least miserable and 11 the most ) since the end of WWII.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misery_index_%28economics%29

1-Eisnehower

2-Johnson

3-Kennedy

4-Clinton

5-Truman

6-G.W. Bush

7-Nixon

8-G.H.W. Bush

9-Reagan

10-Ford

11-Carter

Not that I totally buy into this ranking system since Presidents don't really have all that much to do with the Nations economy........at least not of the economy for which they are being ranked. Also, this ranking is based on Employment and inflation mainly....nothing about Foriegn Policy and appointment of judges, which, in my opinion have more to do with the Presidency than the economy.

[Not Afraid]

FDR is probably my favorite but I have always been fascinated with our own "Royals" in the form the the Kennedys.

[sleepyjeff]

I can't help but notice that the percentage of people who voted for Clinton in this poll is nearly identical to the percentage of the popular vote he won back in '92.

[€uroMeinke]

Very likely, since Tomorrowland preceded JFK by 5 years and the Space Race by three years (which was initiated by Eisenhower in response to Sputnik).

I will not be bothered by linear notions of time

[€uroMeinke]

I can't help but notice that the percentage of people who voted for Clinton in this poll is nearly identical to the percentage of the popular vote he won back in '92.

That's because the wealth of repubs are splitting the vote - say what about Nixion?

[sleepyjeff]

I thought about voting for Nixon.......but I frankly do like Reagan better and if there was a lone vote for Nixon everyone would want to know who did it.

Kinda like I am wondering who voted for Ford;)

[wendybeth]

Well, Reagan was certainly a much better actor.;)

[sleepyjeff]

^Yeah, he could cry on que and...no, wait...that was someone else;)

[innerSpaceman]

I ended up voting for JFK after all. As a three-year-old at the time, I was blessed with only good feelings about him, and have been left with the legacy of his great words ... without any personal knowledge of al the crappy stuff he did.

Clinton also had some great words ... but he governed like a staunch Replublican (and thus I could never understand their loathing of him.)

So I changed my vote.



There have been some pretty suckwad presidents in my lifetime.

[sleepyjeff]

Clinton also had some great words ... but he governed like a staunch Replublican (and thus I could never understand their loathing of him.)



He was a master at stealing Republican ideas and claiming them his.....The conservative in me was happy about this but the partisan in me hated him for it.

[Kevy Baby]

Anyone like to posit a guess as to whom I cast my vote for?Carter?

[Kevy Baby]

Kinda like I am wondering who voted for Ford;)I think it was Mary Poppins (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/member.php?u=32)

[wendybeth]

Not Snappy Jo?

[Kevy Baby]

He has been obliterated. Not just banned - he is way gone.

[Morrigoon]

Were they really combined that long ago? I seem to remember celebrating separate holidays as a kid...

Damn I miss that. That's what made February so special was two 3-day weekends in a row.

[innerSpaceman]

He was a master at stealing Republican ideas and claiming them his.....The conservative in me was happy about this but the partisan in me hated him for it.
Well, that seems kinda petty. He governed precisely as conseravatives would have it ... what bloody difference does it make in the scheme of things what he said about it (or, for that matter, what Congressman he phoned while getting blown in the Oval Office)??

For that matter, he talked the talk of a liberal progressive, but governed quite the opposite. It's Dems who by rights should be pissed at what came from his mouth, and Republicans who should rejoice at what came from his pen.

[Kevy Baby]

I wanted to vote for Sy Sperling.

Not only was he the President of the Hair Club for Men, he was also a client.

[sleepyjeff]

Well, that seems kinda petty. He governed precisely as conseravatives would have it ... what bloody difference does it make in the scheme of things what he said about it (or, for that matter, what Congressman he phoned while getting blown in the Oval Office)??

For that matter, he talked the talk of a liberal progressive, but governed quite the opposite. It's Dems who by rights should be pissed at what came from his mouth, and Republicans who should rejoice at what came from his pen.


Well, for one, he wasn't always conservative; especially those first two years before he had a Republican Congress.

You're right though, why were more Dems not angrier about this?

Why are Dems not happy about the current President, who, in many repsects, is more liberal than Clinton?

Sometimes partisanship just trumps ideaology, as insane as that sounds.

[JWBear]

My dislike of the current administration has nothing to do with partisanship or political ideology. It has to do with their dishonesty, incompetence, and the way they run roughshod over the Constitution. I'd be against any administration that has done the things this one has done, regardless of the party involved.

[innerSpaceman]

And please, do tell, how is the current administration more liberal than Clinton (other than on immigration policy ... where I give them singular props)??


As for "why" a female or black president .... I simply feel that breaking the barrier, even symbolically, of the white male ruling class for the pinaccle of the ruling class is of vital importance to the progress of mankind.

[sleepyjeff]

And please, do tell, how is the current administration more liberal than Clinton (other than on immigration policy ... where I give them singular props)??


As for "why" a female or black president .... I simply feel that breaking the barrier, even symbolically, of the white male ruling class for the pinaccle of the ruling class is of vital importance to the progress of mankind.

If one looks at the amount spent, never mind rhetoric, one will find that Bush has out spent Clinton in not a few areas where one would expect a liberal to be the most generous with public funds.............I guess the major difference would be that Clinton was forced by a fiscaly responsible Republican congress to act the way he did whereas Bush had a Republican congress that thought they could spend their way to re-elections(which is why they lost...idiots).

Your reasons for wanting a non-white-male for President are admirable, but I still believe fly in the face of what we should be trying to achieve.

I hope to see the day when a Black Woman is elected President and no one finds it important or remarkable in any respect to her gender or skin color.

[Gemini Cricket]

There was no option for Thomas Jefferson, so I voted for Bubba.
:)

[innerSpaceman]

Bush has out spent Clinton in not a few areas where one would expect a liberal to be the most generous with public funds
Such as?

(I ask quite sincerely. Perhaps I haven't been paying enough attention. What "liberal" causes have the Republican administration and Congress lavished funds upon?)

I hope to see the day when a Black Woman is elected President and no one finds it important or remarkable in any respect to her gender or skin color.
And I believe that day will only come after (perhaps long after) the barrier is broken with much attention to gender or skin color.

[sleepyjeff]

Education and Prescription drugs come to mind...although I'll admit I am too lazy to look up the actual numbers.


Good point about the barrier being broken first....I suppose that will have to be first in order for what I'd like to be to occur.

[innerSpaceman]

I'll grant you the education thing. Lots of money went that way ... not wisely spent toward any education goals ... but spent nonetheless.

Prescription drugs, however, was a corporate giveaway pure and simple. Citizens got screwed and big pharma companies made out like the bandits they are. Money thrown at the cause of making more money for multinational corporations is not liberalism.

[sleepyjeff]

Prescription drugs, however, was a corporate giveaway pure and simple. Citizens got screwed and big pharma companies made out like the bandits they are. Money thrown at the cause of making more money for multinational corporations is not liberalism.

Very true.

[Babette]

Were they really combined that long ago? I seem to remember celebrating separate holidays as a kid...

Damn I miss that. That's what made February so special was two 3-day weekends in a row.That's right, baby! I am off for Monday #2 :) Gotta love public school.

I vote for Josiah "Jed" Bartlet. Can't wait to see what Santos does for the country, next. Oh, wait, that was The West Wing.

You'd think that as a 5th grade teacher I'd have a civic minded reason for my choice, but I guess I have the best naive childhood presidential memories of Carter. He was a peanut farmer and I loved peanut butter. What more could a little girl ask for in a president? Plus, he wore jeans. Although, he was president that hot summer Ubergeek & I had to sit in long gas lines with the black vinyl seats. Was that Carter's fault or economic backlash from Ford or even Nixon?

Yes, I think I am back to Bartlet.

[JWBear]

What I wouldn't give to have Jed Bartlet in the White House right now. Sigh...

[Alex]

Although, he was president that hot summer Ubergeek & I had to sit in long gas lines with the black vinyl seats. Was that Carter's fault or economic backlash from Ford or even Nixon?

Neither oil crisis had much to do with who was president at the time.

The 1973 oil crisis was a real oil shortage and came about because of the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the surrounding Arab worlds. As punishment, the Arab nations cut off oil exports to countries that had supported Israel (initially just the U.S. and the Netherlands since Arabs particularly hate country names that contain "the" but it slowly expanded to others).

The 1979 crisis (the one you remember) was more ephemeral since actual oil supply only fell a little bit after the Iranian Revolution. But there was a market panic.

[innerSpaceman]

Well the results are in ... and it turns out our LoT poll may have been pretty scientific after all - - with results mirroring the likely outcome of a much larger American sampling.

In lived history, Bill Clinton was the most popular president, followed closely by Ronald Regan. Something for liberals and conservatives alike to be happy about.

JFK came in a distant third. It's likely that post-presidential circumstances contributed to his lasting popularity (i.e., martyrdom death). Jimmy Carter was next, and I believe similar post-presidential honorableness contributes to his acclaim.

Warmongers Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush scored zero points. World, take note.


Papa Bush also scored zero. Gerald Ford, perhaps due to sentimentality surrounding his recent passing, garnered a single vote. Or perhaps it was the comedic fun of his presidency.

:snap: I hope everyone enjoyed Presidents Day Weekend. Have one last fling on Washington's Birthday tomorrow!!

[sleepyjeff]

The two Presidents with the overwhelming majority had something in common.....a congress, for the most part, opposite in party to their own.

[Ghoulish Delight]

The two Presidents with the overwhelming majority had something in common.....a congress, for the most part, opposite in party to their own.
Over the ~45 years represented by the above list of Presidents, the executive branch was under opposite party control from the legislative about twice as often as they were under the same party control. So simple odds dictate that people's favorite would likely have a congress under oppposition control, hardly a causal relationship.

[Kevy Baby]

I have to confess to being surprised about the outcome of this vote (on LoT).

Although I have to disagree with those who voted for Carter. While his humanitarian efforts since he has left office have been exemplary (even if I don't agree with everything, I admire his apssion and commitment), he was, IMHO, a very ineffictive Commander in Chief.

[innerSpaceman]

Well, truth be told, JFK was probably better after his presidency, too. But, as with Carter, it's not always possible to pin a man down to the actual term of office.

Just you wait ... Bill Clinton's popularity will probably increase for all the good works he'll do as First Lady.

[scaeagles]

JFK escalated our involvement in Vietnam, did he not? Or am I remembering my history incorrectly? Nixon was the one who de-escalated our involvement. JFK today would be regarded as a war monger, particularly due to the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. If either of those happened today, he'd be crucified.

[Alex]

Yeah, and if Bush had been assassinated in 2003 he'd still be remembered as a powerful leader and Cheney would be blamed for screwing up his war.

It's always best to die before you have a chance to really screw up. Assuming that all you care about is how people think about you.

[€uroMeinke]

This morning on NPR, I heard a piece on Nixon in China, I guess it's the Anniversary today. I confess I still think it's a cool legacy for the Nixon Administration.

[innerSpaceman]

yeah, if only every single solitary scandal since hadn't been popularly appended "gate," that China thing might have been the legacy actually remembered.



Bummer.

[€uroMeinke]

.. and the sweaty upper lip

[wendybeth]

JFK escalated our involvement in Vietnam, did he not? Or am I remembering my history incorrectly? Nixon was the one who de-escalated our involvement. JFK today would be regarded as a war monger, particularly due to the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. If either of those happened today, he'd be crucified.
See, JFK was much better looking than Nixon, and lets face it- America needed a hottie president to usher in the era of Free Love. ( Clinton was just a couple of decades late). So, no matter how much you try to spin Nixon's legacy, the fact remains that JFK was Prince Charming to Nixon's Gollum. I'll bet he hated JFK.;)

[Not Afraid]

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that made me chuckle. It said "I Miss Clinton".

[DreadPirateRoberts]

See, JFK was much better looking than Nixon, and lets face it- America needed a hottie president to usher in the era of Free Love. ( Clinton was just a couple of decades late). So, no matter how much you try to spin Nixon's legacy, the fact remains that JFK was Prince Charming to Nixon's Gollum. I'll bet he hated JFK.;)

Actually, I think they were friends (http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/progjfk1.htm) up until the 1960 campaign.

[katiesue]

I saw a bumper sticker yesterday that made me chuckle. It said "I Miss Clinton".


I saw one yesterday that said "Bring Back Nixon" and it was on a mint El Dorado convertiable.