Barack Obama 2013

[frededwards]

Agreed! Though only by a bit

 

To be fair on Obama, he's not really been able to achieve anything primarily because of the political gridlock.

 

Though the guy did go down in my estimations during the BP/Deepwater Horizon mess, and how he handled it.. practically laying the blame with the UK.

 

 

 

But bloody Cameron let him get away with it!

 

He failed to point out that the whole thing was caused by two American companies. One supplied the incorrect concrete, and the other drilled into it too soon.

[Harleyman]

He appears to be making more effort then some of his predecessor's.

Has there ever been a perfect President?

 

 

Not perfect exactly but pretty damned good. There's no such thing as a perfect human being let alone a perfect politicial leader. Here are three I would count as outstanding.

 

Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 

Others who could be counted as well above average. Presidents Wilson, Truman and Clinton

[epiphany]

Others who could be counted as well above average. Presidents Wilson, Truman and Clinton

 

I'm always surprised at Clinton's popularity, but then a lot of what he actually did was quickly brushed under the carpet.

 

He oversaw the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act (an example of successful Wall Street lobbying) stating it was "no longer appropriate". He also launched some very careless, costly and arguably unconstitutional (given that congressional approval was not sought) bombing campaigns in Sudan and Iraq, when the latter was already under harsh sanctions. Both of these serious errors makes me question the integrity of a man who is supposed to be "progressive" and otherwise comes across as intelligent and holistic.

 

While millions remember the attempts at impeaching Clinton to have been a result of his petty antics with Monica Lewinski (sp?), there were far more serious reasons, in my opinion, to kick him out of office.

[janie48]

Not perfect exactly but pretty damned good. There's no such thing as a perfect human being let alone a perfect politicial leader. Here are three I would count as outstanding.

 

Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

 

Others who could be counted as well above average. Presidents Wilson, Truman and Clinton

 

Totally agree,nobody's perfect.

Seems even Abraham Lincoln has his critics according to some article i read lately concerning the film "Lincoln" which i am looking forward to seeing soon.

[Harleyman]

Totally agree,nobody's perfect.

Seems even Abraham Lincoln has his critics according to some article i read lately concerning the film "Lincoln" which i am looking forward to seeing soon.

 

I saw the movie weeks ago. It's brilliant. Daniel Day Lewis deserves an Oscar without a doubt. He even has Lincoln's somewhat high pitched voice down to a tee and the resemblance is uncanny but Steven Spielberg never does anything by halves so I'm not surprised

 

I dont imagine that Lincoln's critics could have been very numerous apart from those southern sympathisers during and after the civil war.

 

Without a doubt he preserved the Union and despite all the pessimism and nay sayers among his peers managed to get the bill passed in Congress to end slavery

 

A lesser man could never have achieved either of the above

 

---------- Post added 23-01-2013 at 23:03 ----------

 

I'm always surprised at Clinton's popularity, but then a lot of what he actually did was quickly brushed under the carpet.

 

He oversaw the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act (an example of successful Wall Street lobbying) stating it was "no longer appropriate". He also launched some very careless, costly and arguably unconstitutional (given that congressional approval was not sought) bombing campaigns in Sudan and Iraq, when the latter was already under harsh sanctions. Both of these serious errors makes me question the integrity of a man who is supposed to be "progressive" and otherwise comes across as intelligent and holistic.

 

While millions remember the attempts at impeaching Clinton to have been a result of his petty antics with Monica Lewinski (sp?), there were far more serious reasons, in my opinion, to kick him out of office.

 

 

His economic policies were sound and he didnt get the US involved in a war. I dont class the Somalia debacle as a war and he was smart enough to get out of it pretty quickly

 

They were years of peace and prosperity. When he left office the US had a surplus of around two billion dollars.

 

Two good reasons to place him among the better leaders

[ronthenekred]

He makes Bush seem a very reasonable and decent guy, an opinion I would not have thought possible

 

 

 

 

Even Bin Laden couldn't make Bush look decent.

[epiphany]

His economic policies were sound and he didnt get the US involved in a war. I dont class the Somalia debacle as a war and he was smart enough to get out of it pretty quickly

 

They were years of peace and prosperity. When he left office the US had a surplus of around two billion dollars.

 

How can his economic policies be sound when he oversaw the repeal of a law which had successfully and crucially separated speculative banking from retail banking and protected the tax payer from effectively underwriting casino banking? Plus, how can we forget the Community Reinvestment Act, which gave (the wrong type of) banks an incentive to lend irresponsibly to low income communities.

 

Given the nature of today's "financial crisis", he should have absolutely no critical clout, since he openly supported the deregulation of the banking system.

 

Bombing Iraq was an act of war, as is all unprovoked attack, and carried out without congressional approval. How could it be interpreted any other way?

 

There's making mistakes (or "not being perfect") and purposefully taking actions that reflects weak integrity, or true intent.