Presidents IMO are the kind of people that are usually best judged years down the line after they have left office. This way you can actually look back at history and see the effect they had on the world. Something people vehemently disagreed with at the time a president made the decision might turn out, in hindsight, to have been a wise choice.
A perfect example is Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon. When this happened a lot of people were pissed off over it. There was some merit into them saying it's another instance of the rich and powerful getting away with something, but Fords reasons for doing it were that the country needed healing and they couldn't do that if Nixon was put on trial, and that if he was put on trial that would essentially consume the attention of the country..as opposed to their attention being on more pressing issues.
Looking back, it was probably the right thing to do, even if you do hate to see Nixon get away with it.
Originally posted by Nephthys
Obama's approval rating leaving the White House was significantly better than Trump's was going into it.
Yeah that was crazy because he didn't do much his last months in office.
Obama wasn't the worst president thats just ridiculous.
With the rise of online media we did see a nation become very polarized under his presidency though.
Originally posted by Surtur
Presidents IMO are the kind of people that are usually best judged years down the line after they have left office. This way you can actually look back at history and see the effect they had on the world. Something people vehemently disagreed with at the time a president made the decision might turn out, in hindsight, to have been a wise choice.A perfect example is Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon. When this happened a lot of people were pissed off over it. There was some merit into them saying it's another instance of the rich and powerful getting away with something, but Fords reasons for doing it were that the country needed healing and they couldn't do that if Nixon was put on trial, and that if he was put on trial that would essentially consume the attention of the country..as opposed to their attention being on more pressing issues.
Looking back, it was probably the right thing to do, even if you do hate to see Nixon get away with it.
Originally posted by jaden101
Ineffectual would be the best word to describe him. In part due to not having a clear vision on many issues and in part due to partisanship and obstructionism.
I've heard it suggested that Obama's big idea for CHANGE was..... appealing to Republicans. Which, uh, didn't really work since they were as hostile towards him as it was possible for them to be and they were insanely obstructionist.
But yeah, its not really his fault that the Republicans were so obstructionist towards him.
Originally posted by darthgoober
Personally, I've always thought that the best presidents were the ones that no one remembers. Guys whose greatness is reflected in the fact that the fact that they kept things running smoothly enough that we don't remember the things they did to piss off huge numbers of the population. I believe that the trend more modern candidates have of trying to start some manner of major social revolution as soon as they take office is one of the reasons the country has become so angry in general. The president needs to focus on supporting natural social evolution of the population rather then force change on everyone IMO.
I think this might be situational though when it comes to nobody remembers them. Look at FDR. He was our president during most of WW2 and also saw us through the depression. People can't help but remember such a man given what was going on in the world when he was president.
Originally posted by Nephthys
I've heard it suggested that Obama's big idea for CHANGE was..... appealing to Republicans. Which, uh, didn't really work since they were as hostile towards him as it was possible for them to be and they were insanely obstructionist.But yeah, its not really his fault that the Republicans were so obstructionist towards him.
Yeah and it seems like the democrats are intent on repeating the same behavior with Trump when it comes to obstruction.
This is why I can't blame the repubs for using that rarely enforced rule to silence Elizabeth Warren. Both sides have done all they seemingly can to catch the other side having ANY kind of slip up, they study everything the other side says with a microscope.
Pettiness begets more pettiness. Only question is which side is going to decide to break the cycle?
Originally posted by Flyattractor
[b]According to Fake News Sources...like CNN, MSNBC...etc. [/B]
It is another interesting side effect of Trumps victory: people don't trust polls as much.
Speaking of approval ratings..have you ever ONCE been asked by any official source whether or not you approve of Trump? I have voted in 4 elections now, not once have I been asked for if I approve of the presidents.
Likewise, for all of these things that say "Oh 45% of Americans think this" I never ever once remember going "yeah, I remember when I answered that poll."
I'd be curious as to how many people they actually poll for these approval ratings. Obviously they can't literally ask every American to respond to a poll, but I wonder things like:
-what area of the country were people polled in or was it from all over the country?
-were adults of all ages polled or was there a majority of people who were from a specific age bracket(like 20-35)?
-how many people actually answered the poll?
Strange, I haven't had a landline for years, but I never really got calls like that.
I would receive phone calls that were automated messages telling me to come out and vote though.
But even beyond elections, I have never been asked about an issue. In this day and age I feel it's important we get a bit more information about the polls the media frequently spouts at us.
Going back to approvals, for example, I'm sure if you polled 1000 people from California about if they approved of Trump you would have a wildly different percentage of people who approve when compared to what the results would look like if you had polled 1000 people from a different state.
Yes he's about the worst.. Race relations became worse;
Supported the release of Lockerbie bomber which killed 270 people and 11 on the ground.
Democrats say they are worried about tax evaders, but Obama nominated Timothy Geithner to head of the government agency for tax laws lol...
Said Obamacare wasn't a tax but then argued that it was..
Oh and spent $1.6 millions restoring graffiti that glorified communist murders Fidel Castro & Che Guevara.
Didn't let the anti-communist Polish leader Lech Wal锚sa in the White House.. Obama can take his 'change' out of America!