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Most Overrated President

Started by Kleves, July 23, 2011, 03:45:12 PM

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Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the most overrated of them all?

Jefferson
2 (3.9%)
TR
1 (2%)
FDR
9 (17.6%)
Truman
3 (5.9%)
JFK
10 (19.6%)
Reagan
20 (39.2%)
Bush I
0 (0%)
Clinton
2 (3.9%)
Other
4 (7.8%)

Total Members Voted: 50

CountDeMoney

Quote from: Ideologue on July 24, 2011, 02:19:25 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 23, 2011, 10:31:37 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on July 23, 2011, 10:26:45 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on July 23, 2011, 07:49:43 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 23, 2011, 07:36:23 PM
:D

Good one Dump Truck.

We need to break you from this nickname habit.

I guessed he was referring to me, but I can't be sure and really I have no idea what that meant.

Dude, you dumped Korea.

While I appreciate your historical revisionism, that's not how I recall it happening. :P

I possess all sorts of historical revisionism when it comes to women.

Sheilbh

Reagan.  Washington.  In certain (different) circles Truman and Wilson.
Let's bomb Russia!

CountDeMoney


Razgovory

Quote from: Tonitrus on July 24, 2011, 02:18:27 AM
It might just be that the best result to come from Grenada was making possible the film Heartbreak Ridge, irregardless of Mario Van Peebles.

Securing the nutmeg supply.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Ed Anger

Killin' cubans is always a good thing.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Josquius

Depends by who.
In general- JFK, people regard him as being nigh on god. He seemed alright, not bad, but wasn't really around long enough to do much.
On the internet- Reagan, you'd think he was the best president ever to hear some people but some of what he did...more likely to be competing for worst than best president.
██████
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OttoVonBismarck

I have to agree with Katmai about how ridiculous it is TR is on this list. He is the most underrated President ever precisely because he isn't universally recognized as not only the best American President but the best single human being to have ever been born on this earth.

His inclusion in this poll should result in Kleves being viciously raped to death by a gang of enraged minotaurs.

That being said I think JFK has to be rated as the most overrated. He did good to avoid outright war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but that shit wouldn't have gone down at all under Eisenhower, JFK's weakness is why the crisis even happened, JFK was notable for ignoring the advice of people who before he accepted their expertise without question. If he had listened to what several of his advisers were saying we may genuinely have had a nuclear exchange, and at minimum a true war with the Soviet Union (I don't view it as impossible we might have had a shooting war with the Soviets that was limited enough in scope as to not cause either side to push the launch button.) But if you look at the totality of his Presidency JFK had very few accomplishments and his reputation is almost Lincolnesque with none of the achievements of a Lincoln. LBJ was actually vastly more successful than Kennedy in getting Kennedy's domestic policies passed through the legislature. This is because LBJ was an old hand of the Senate and a master manipulator of that chamber; JFK was an absentee Senator whose daddy essentially bought him a political career through massive criminal campaign tactics, so Kennedy was not well suited to actually get significant legislation passed.

Clinton is also overrated but people aren't quite as over the top for him. Clinton was a Coolidge-esque caretaker President whose Presidency coincided with a massive economic boom and a Republican house that forced Clinton to compromise on welfare reform (for whatever reason liberal retconning has granted Clinton 100% of the credit for this.) This resulted in budget surpluses and happy years.

Kleves

Quote from: OttoVonBismarck on July 24, 2011, 10:17:59 AM
I have to agree with Katmai about how ridiculous it is TR is on this list. He is the most underrated President ever precisely because he isn't universally recognized as not only the best American President but the best single human being to have ever been born on this earth.

His inclusion in this poll should result in Kleves being viciously raped to death by a gang of enraged minotaurs.
Dude, TR's awesome. I just felt that I had to include another highly rated Republican, lest CdM ban me.  :contract:
My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom.

Tonitrus

Now, I like TR too, but he he was not flawless.

Razgovory

Quote from: Sheilbh on July 24, 2011, 06:44:47 AM
Reagan.  Washington.  In certain (different) circles Truman and Wilson.

Washington can be considered great just one thing.  He quit.  Something so rare, and so important that King George called him "the greatest character of the age".  Oh he did other important things, other things that people have done and have been called great for it, but resigning his commission in the army and only serving two terms is perhaps the most important thing that separated the founding of the US from other colonies in the Americas, and most of the revolutionary regimes in the world.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

garbon

Quote from: Razgovory on July 24, 2011, 12:19:30 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 24, 2011, 06:44:47 AM
Reagan.  Washington.  In certain (different) circles Truman and Wilson.

Washington can be considered great just one thing.  He quit.  Something so rare, and so important that King George called him "the greatest character of the age".  Oh he did other important things, other things that people have done and have been called great for it, but resigning his commission in the army and only serving two terms is perhaps the most important thing that separated the founding of the US from other colonies in the Americas, and most of the revolutionary regimes in the world.

Washington makes an easy target for the overrated label because he is so wrapped up (central?) to our national myths. Cherry trees and what have you. :)
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

grumbler

Quote from: garbon on July 24, 2011, 12:45:15 PM
Washington makes an easy target for the overrated label because he is so wrapped up (central?) to our national myths. Cherry trees and what have you. :)
I think that you are correct; people today don't understand how powerful (because how rare) the whole "Cincinnatus" example was at the time.  To walk away from power when your duty was done was an ideal whose realization truly shocked and impressed people.  Today, we look at Presidents who do that and take it for granted (and, admittedly, there were exceptions like FDR).
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Razgovory

Quote from: garbon on July 24, 2011, 12:45:15 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on July 24, 2011, 12:19:30 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 24, 2011, 06:44:47 AM
Reagan.  Washington.  In certain (different) circles Truman and Wilson.

Washington can be considered great just one thing.  He quit.  Something so rare, and so important that King George called him "the greatest character of the age".  Oh he did other important things, other things that people have done and have been called great for it, but resigning his commission in the army and only serving two terms is perhaps the most important thing that separated the founding of the US from other colonies in the Americas, and most of the revolutionary regimes in the world.

Washington makes an easy target for the overrated label because he is so wrapped up (central?) to our national myths. Cherry trees and what have you. :)


It's also easy to look a list of the battles he fought and point out, "Hey, he lost most of these".  Which is true, however he kept an army in field for almost a decade with little support and kept it a credible threat to the British.  That's no mean task, especially for man who really didn't have much formal military training.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Tonitrus

The devil's advocate view might be, though, that "he held slaves, and is thus immediately overrated".