That’s really a very simplistic way to view the situation. Yes, DC was sacked and some public buildings went up, but the government was back in control in less than two days. By drawing with the Empire, the US showed that it was ready to assume a place among the world powers. It’s rather lazy to keep repeating “the White House burned down” ad infinitum when advocating Madison’s departure. I believe the “dump Madison” movement here is probably unduely influenced by Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie as it is.
Congratulations - you couldn’t have spun it better if you were a Madison Administration flack. IMHO, it is a cardinal failing in a head of state to enter a war ill-prepared, get your own capital captured and burned by enemy troops while you flee just minutes ahead of them, and then come out of the war with really nothing to show for it.
Carter, still. Tyler seems inoffensive.
Good Lord, is there an echo in here? I could swear the anti-Madison folks have been repeating themselves for an awfully long time now. This is really getting boring.
We tied in the War of 1812 but that was indeed the best case scenario. If it had gone even slightly worse the US might have lost territory and/or New England might have seceded.
I am a man of my word:
Carter
According to that well-known historian Stephen Jay Gould (ahem), the US lost the War of 1812, but were allowed a face-saving treaty by Lord Castlereagh who stopped the British negotiators from demanding more punitive terms.
We promise to shut up once the fourth President gets the heave-ho. 
Still cleavland
I count 18 votes. Anyone want to chime in and finish out this round?
If you can’t spell his name, you can’t vote against him. 
Continuing to play CalvinBall with the rules, I’m calling this one: Tyler has a 3 vote lead on Madison and Carter with 18 votes cast; 2 more votes for either of the second-place candidates wouldn’t be enough to draw level.
John Tyler, Too, is out, in a victory for obscure mediocrity.
George Washington (None, 1789-1797)
John Adams (Federalist, 1797-1801)
Thomas Jefferson (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809)
James Madison (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1817)
James Monroe (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825)
John Quincy Adams (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)
Martin Van Buren (Democrat, 1837-1841)
James Polk (Democrat, 1845-1849)
Zachary Taylor (Whig, 1849-1850)
Abraham Lincoln (Republican, 1861-1865)
Chester Arthur (Republican, 1881-1885)
Grover Cleveland (Democrat, 1885-1889, 1893-1897)
Benjamin Harrison (Republican, 1889-1893)
William McKinley (Republican, 1897-1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (Republican, 1901-1909)
William Howard Taft (Republican, 1909-1913)
Woodrow Wilson (Democrat, 1913-1921)
Calvin Coolidge (Republican, 1923-1929)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933-1945)
Henry Truman (Democrat, 1945-1953)
Dwight Eisenhower (Republican, 1953-1961)
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (Democrat, 1961-1963)
Lyndon Baines Johnson (Democrat, 1963-1969)
Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974-1977)
James Earl Carter (Democrat, 1977-1981)
George Herbert Walker Bush (Republican, 1989-1993)
William Jefferson Clinton (Democrat, 1993-2001)
Eliminated Presidents:
- James Buchanan (Democrat, 1857-1861)
- Franklin Pierce (Democrat, 1853-1857)
- Andrew Johnson (National Union, 1865-1869)
- Warren Harding (Republican, 1921-1923)
- Milliard Filmore (Whig, 1850-1853)
- Richard Milhous Nixon (Republican, 1969-1974)
- Herbert Hoover (Republican, 1929-1933)
- Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981-1989)
- Andrew Jackson (Democrat, 1829-1837)
- Rutherford Hayes (Republican, 1877-1881)
- Ulysses Grant (Republican, 1869-1877)
- John Tyler (Whig, 1841-1845)
Madison once again.
Voting will remain open until 12:30 Central Time on Friday; if there are not 20 votes by that time, it will remain open for a further 2 days or until 20 votes are recorded.
I’m too late to save Tyler, but my only interest is because an elderly friend of mine is President Tyler’s grandson. That’s right, I have a friend, today in 2009, whose grandfather was president in the 1840s.
I think you – or someone – has posted on that rather recently, Skammer.
Jimmy Carter. Yes, yes, the White House burned down in 1814. We get it. The damn country burned down in 1980, and I blame the President.
Madison. Literal burning down trumps metaphorical burning down!
Yeah, I mentioned it a while back in a thread about one of Cecil’s columns. I can’t help it, I just think it’s so damn cool. He (my friend) is around 80 now and never had a son – my wife wants to marry him and give him a son just to keep the line alive.
I’m sorely tempted by Arthur or Coolidge, but I’m gonna go with Jimmy Carter. As much as I admire the man’s accomplishments post-1980… he was a bad president.
Madison again. Sheesh. No way was Carter as bad as him.
I’ll join you Madison [del]Supporters[/del] haters. Burn the Bastard!