# Poll finds Obama is the worst president since World War II **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 2, 2014, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186 "2014-07-02T13:08:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/21 "2014-07-02T16:40:26Z")
Recency bias. People always have wildly exaggeratedly “best ever!” or “worst ever!” views about recent events. Presidencies can’t be fairly assessed until 1-2 decades afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/22 "2014-07-02T16:42:07Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > None of this is factual. Obama has done plenty to “push” American interests – such as disentangle us from costly wars, bring us closer to an agreement on nukes with Iran, bring to justice various terrorists (including OBL), **sign treaties like the Nuclear START treaty** , etc. You might not like some of his policies, but it’s only your opinion that Obama is not pushing our interests. It’s questionable whether this is in US interests or not. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/23 "2014-07-02T16:58:37Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > It’s questionable whether this is in US interests or not. Do you think the original START treaty signed by George HW Bush was in the US’ best interest? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/24 "2014-07-02T17:08:05Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Do you think the original START treaty signed by George HW Bush was in the US’ best interest? That was questionable too. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/25 "2014-07-02T17:08:24Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Not at all. Other world leaders can advance their own interests, because Obama isn’t doing anything to push ours. From their POV, he’s great. We’d love it if Vladimir Putin was a rotten leader. But unfortunately for us, Putin is a truly excellent leader. Of course the corollary isn’t that a leader hated by other countries is necessarily advancing his country’s interests. It’s just true that many a bad leader may be loved by leaders of other countries. They aren’t necessarily related. Sometimes to advance your national interests you can’t really care if it makes other countries dislike you, your job isn’t to be liked in those other countries. But Bush II is a good example of making enemies abroad for little to no reason, in a way that certainly didn’t advance our interests. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/26 "2014-07-02T17:30:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Recency bias. People always have wildly exaggeratedly “best ever!” or “worst ever!” views about recent events. > > Presidencies can’t be fairly assessed until 1-2 decades afterwards. Bingo. The wikipedia article on [Historical rankings of Presidents](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States) reveals a lot. It shows that historians are ranking Obama favorably. > [@](#): > > In 2012, Newsweek magazine asked a panel of historians to rank the ten best presidents since 1900. The results showed that historians had ranked Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama as the best since that year.[20] > > A 2013 History News Network poll of 203 American historians, when asked to rate Barack Obama’s presidency on an A–F scale, gave him a B- grade. Obama, whom historians graded using 15 separate measures plus an overall grade, was rated most highly in the categories of communication ability, integrity, and crisis management, and most poorly for his relationship with Congress and transparency and accountability.[21] Also, in the section about popular opinion it shows that the general public is stupid and can’t remember more than a few presidents back. > [@](#): > > A Gallup poll about presidential greatness, taken February 2–5, 2011, asked 1015 adults in the US, “Who do you regard as the greatest United States president?”[3] > > 1.Ronald Reagan (19%) > 2.Abraham Lincoln (14%) > 3.Bill Clinton (13%) > 4.John F. Kennedy (11%) > 5.George Washington (10%) > 6.Franklin Roosevelt (8%) > 7.Barack Obama (5%) > 8.Theodore Roosevelt (3%) > 9.Harry Truman (3%) > 10.George W. Bush (2%) > 11.Thomas Jefferson (2%) > 12.Jimmy Carter (1%) > 13.Dwight Eisenhower (1%) > 14.George H. W. Bush (1%) > 15.Andrew Jackson (\<1%) > 16.Lyndon B. Johnson (\<1%) > 17.Richard Nixon (\<1%) Really America?? Bill Clinton beat out JFK and GEORGE WASHINGTON?! The historians tend to agree on Harding, Pierce, Buchanan, Nixon, Grant, A. Johnson or poor ol’ WHH for worst. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/27 "2014-07-02T17:34:30Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Really America?? Bill Clinton beat out JFK and GEORGE WASHINGTON?! There’s a lot of argument about JFK, actually. I don’t feel qualified to summarize either side, but there are people who feel he got very little done and is overrated because of his popular image and because he was murdered. Putting Clinton over Washington is a good example of the bias you’re talking about, though. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/28 "2014-07-02T18:35:25Z")
I’m sick of this “It makes us look weak” nonsense. I’m pretty sure part of the disdain (especially from the middle east) other countries have for us is _because_ of our strength. They fucking HATE us because the see us as bullies and they feel helpless to do anything against our military might. Think about it, how terrified of a country would you be if you had limited access to news and you knew there was this rogue country out there that could send drones anywhere it wanted to in your country and randomly kill people? They don’t see us as week, they see us as monsters. And if anybody seriously thinks there was jack shit we could have done to stop Russia is seriously deluded as to what we are capable of as a nation. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/29 "2014-07-02T18:41:11Z")
Really? I think Washington is overrated as a President. He gets a lot of carryover affection from being General Washington that overshadows President Washington. He also tends to get bonus points for being first rather than being great. Reagan gets a lot of benefit from Conservatives worshiping “Fantasy” Reagan over “Real” Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/30 "2014-07-02T18:56:31Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > [QUOTE=Martin Hyde] > > Which isn’t a measure of leadership at all. I bet the members of the Axis rated Neville Chamberlain a lot higher than they did Winston Churchill. Exactly. They like Obama because he doesn’t actually do anything to advance America’s interests. [/QUOTE] This tacit admission that the entire rest of the world should viewed as enemies is a big part of the problem. Of the irrational criticism aimed at Obama, that is. No serious foreign policy thinker is ever going to take that seriously. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/31 "2014-07-02T19:44:53Z")
It is hard to take a poll such as this seriously, given that IMHO most people polled cannot even name all 12 of the presidents since WW2. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/32 "2014-07-02T20:04:06Z")
> [@](#): > > A 2013 History News Network poll of 203 American historians, when asked to rate Barack Obama’s presidency on an A–F scale, gave him a B- grade. Obama, whom historians graded using 15 separate measures plus an overall grade, was rated most highly in the categories of communication ability, integrity, and crisis management, and most poorly for his relationship with Congress and transparency and accountability. Interesting that they give Obama low marks for accountability & transparency. I’d think that low scores in those areas would be a warning sign of corruption. Obama might end being one of those leaders where we don’t find out all the skeletons until after he’s out of office. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/33 "2014-07-02T20:06:01Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > This tacit admission that the entire rest of the world should viewed as enemies is a big part of the problem. Of the irrational criticism aimed at Obama, that is. No serious foreign policy thinker is ever going to take that seriously. No, it’s a tacit admission that the leader of a country should advance that country’s interests. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/34 "2014-07-02T20:07:10Z")
I bet the truth comes out after Obama leaves office. Like when he broke into the IRS building and took a magnet to Lois Lerner’s hard drive? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/35 "2014-07-02T20:11:51Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Interesting that they give Obama low marks for accountability & transparency. I’d think that low scores in those areas would be a warning sign of corruption. Obama might end being one of those leaders where we don’t find out all the skeletons until after he’s out of office. Gentle reminder that Republicans have spent the last 5 1/2 years desperately trying to trump up any kind of Obama administration scandal. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/36 "2014-07-02T20:35:29Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > People who don’t like Obama are prone to this kind of laughably oversimplified analysis of foreign affairs, I’ve noticed. Rubbish, of course. It’s more that the Obama-worshipers and Reagan-was-the-Great-Satan types that predominate on the SDMB simply refuse to accept that any given Democratic President could be worse than any given Republican President. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/37 "2014-07-02T20:40:28Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Rubbish, of course. Saying “of course” does not make your statement more definitive, of course. People who say Obama makes the U.S. look weak are long on complaints and short on specifics about how President Strong would have achieved a different outcome. Nobody was going to war with Russia over Ukraine, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/38 "2014-07-02T20:43:43Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Interesting that they give Obama low marks for accountability & transparency. I’d think that low scores in those areas would be a warning sign of corruption. Obama might end being one of those leaders where we don’t find out all the skeletons until after he’s out of office. Obama also might be a demon from Neptune. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/39 "2014-07-02T20:58:38Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Rubbish, of course. It’s more that the Obama-worshipers and Reagan-was-the-Great-Satan types that predominate on the SDMB simply refuse to accept that any given Democratic President could be worse than any given Republican President. > > Regards, > Shodan So better to take the word of a Reagan worshipper who thinks Obama is the Great Satan? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186/40 "2014-07-02T21:29:49Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > I’m sick of this “It makes us look weak” nonsense. I’m pretty sure part of the disdain (especially from the middle east) other countries have for us is _because_ of our strength. They fucking HATE us because the see us as bullies and they feel helpless to do anything against our military might. > > Think about it, how terrified of a country would you be if you had limited access to news and you knew there was this rogue country out there that could send drones anywhere it wanted to in your country and randomly kill people? > > They don’t see us as week, they see us as monsters. > > And if anybody seriously thinks there was jack shit we could have done to stop Russia is seriously deluded as to what we are capable of as a nation. I don’t really have much to say about the OP one way or the other, except to note that it’s kind of hard to judge a president who is still in office, and basically any such judgement, especially today is going to break down along partisan lines. However, this seems a contradiction. On the one hand you are saying we are feared as monsters by the rest of the world, then you turn around and say that, despite that fear there was nothing we could do about Russia’s land grab in the Crimea?? How does this make sense to you? Either we are feared as monsters, in which case Russia would be stupid to cross us (we being so monstrous and all), or we aren’t really feared so much because, actually, most people know we aren’t going to do crazy shit like going to war with Russia over the Crimea. You can’t have it both ways…not and make any sense. So which is it? Are we feared or not? Seems to me the answer is in the fact that Russia didn’t sweat it over either this or Syria, and Syria didn’t really sweat it over our line drawn in the sand. No? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-finds-obama-is-the-worst-president-since-world-war-ii/692186.md?page=3)