The Worst President Ever

Eric Foner, writing in the Washington Post comments on the historical ranking of presidents from “great” to “failure”

Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt always figure in the “great” category. Most presidents are ranked “average” or, to put it less charitably, mediocre. Johnson, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Richard M. Nixon occupy the bottom rung, and now President Bush is a leading contender to join them. A look at history, as well as Bush’s policies, explains why.At a time of national crisis, Pierce and Buchanan, who served in the eight years preceding the Civil War, and Johnson, who followed it, were simply not up to the job. Stubborn, narrow-minded, unwilling to listen to criticism or to consider alternatives to disastrous mistakes, they surrounded themselves with sycophants and shaped their policies to appeal to retrogressive political forces (in that era, pro-slavery and racist ideologues). Even after being repudiated in the midterm elections of 1854, 1858 and 1866, respectively, they ignored major currents of public opinion and clung to flawed policies. Bush’s presidency certainly brings theirs to mind.

Bush has taken this disdain for law even further. He has sought to strip people accused of crimes of rights that date as far back as the Magna Carta in Anglo-American jurisprudence: trial by impartial jury, access to lawyers and knowledge of evidence against them. In dozens of statements when signing legislation, he has asserted the right to ignore the parts of laws with which he disagrees. His administration has adopted policies regarding the treatment of prisoners of war that have disgraced the nation and alienated virtually the entire world. Usually, during wartime, the Supreme Court has refrained from passing judgment on presidential actions related to national defense. The court’s unprecedented rebukes of Bush’s policies on detainees indicate how far the administration has strayed from the rule of law… Somehow, in his first six years in office he has managed to combine the lapses of leadership, misguided policies and abuse of power of his failed predecessors. I think there is no alternative but to rank him as the worst president in U.S. history.

We couldn’t agree more. In a comment at The Moderate Voice, CaseyL amplifies why Bush ranks close to the bottom.

Reagan ushered in the era of modern union-busting, plutocracy, the politics of spin (wherein perception matters more than facts), gave us Iran-Contra, bankrolled the mullahs (including OBL), aided and abetted Saddam Hussein in his various mass murders, wrecked the federal budget, and with it a lot of programs that made life easier for the poor, for kids, and for the working class. In short, Reagan legitimized and made SOP much of is so hideous about American politics nowadays.But Bush took all that to the nth degree, and then some. The US military wasn’t wrecked under Reagan; it has been, under Bush. The US economy tottered under Reagan, but had enough structural strength to recover once sane budgetary policies were enacted: Bush has thrown all of that out the window, running the national debt up to $9 trillion and ensuring that the only way to fix it is via draconian economic measures – and that’s assuming our creditors don’t call the debt first, which we can’t assume, because our creditors are also our rivals for global political and economic power.

Bush’s arrogance, incompetence, brutishness and lies lost us the rest of the world’s trust, respect, and goodwill. Bush launched an unprovoked war of aggression and occupation – one which, by any meaningful definition of the term “victory,” we have lost; that will have unimaginable consequences for national security (particularly when juxtaposed with the damage to our military). Bush showed the world that not only international law and treaties but even our own laws and Constitution were meaningless to him, things he could violate with impunity.

At best, Bush is slightly better than Buchanan – but only because the US isn’t ripped apart at the seams in a Civil War. It’s hard to see any areas, any categories, any criteria, by which Bush can not be deemed the Worst US President Other Than Buchanan. And he might overtake Buchanan, since he still has two years to go, and God only knows what destructive shit he’ll come up with in that time.