# Which candidate would make the worst president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149 "2011-08-18T13:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/41 "2011-08-22T13:35:04Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > :rolleyes: > Yeesh. Really? Do you really think this? Of course! The president has no control over the economy where things go poorly and he has a (R) after his name. But when things go poorly and there’s a (D) after his name, well that motherfucker needs to get his boot off the throats of America’s small businesses - like BofA and Boeing! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/42 "2011-08-22T14:11:40Z")
> [@hodagg](#): > > Presidents don’t create jobs…private businesses do. Obama has done more to scare off investment by private business than any president ever has. And, given that more jobs have been created in the U.S., net, during Obama’s 2.5 years as President than during Bush’s 8 years, the evidence of this is…? > [@](#): > > Companies right now are sitting one tons of money but will not invest it in growing their companies because of the uncertainty that this president has left them with: how much is Obamacare gonna cost them? What new regulations will be added to the already burdensome regulations that are strangling businesses? Yeah, businesses aren’t hiring now because of uncertainty about something that might happen a few years down the road. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that most American households simply don’t have much money to buy things right now, or are saving rather than spending just in case their jobs are next on the chopping block. Pass right by the simple and direct explanation in favor of something completely abstract, indirect, and theoretical. > [@](#): > > Obama is the most anti-business president this country has ever seen. Businesses are just waiting him out right now. He needs to go. Hell, Ike, JFK, LBJ, and even freakin’ _Nixon_ were more “anti-business” by any realistic measure than Obama is. And that’s just the ones in my lifetime. I’m sure FDR and Truman would be in there too, as well as Teddy Roosevelt. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/43 "2011-08-22T14:17:03Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Of all the candidates who have announced their intent to run for president in 2012, which would be the worst for the country? The assorted GOP candidates, Huntsman possibly excepted, are in a dead heat. They’d all sign everything that a GOP Congress passed. It would be pretty much open season on everything. My expectation is that if the GOP wins the Presidency, they’ll also win the Senate. And if they win the Presidency and the Senate, they’ll dispatch the filibuster and pass whatever they want by simple majorities. It’s hard to say just how bad it could get, but the important point is that it really won’t much _matter_ which Republican is in the White House. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/44 "2011-08-22T14:19:31Z")
I’ve got to say, Randall Terry would make a pretty terrible President. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/45 "2011-08-22T15:13:34Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > You sound like a partisan whackjob… Keep the personal insults out of this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/46 "2011-08-22T20:23:36Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Keep the personal insults out of this forum. You are right; sorry **hodagg**. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/47 "2011-08-23T01:26:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Rick Perry. I think he could do more damage than anyone else. If he got a Republican Congress, say goodbye to Social Security, Medicare, civil rights, and abortion rights. The idea that Rick Perry could nominate judges to the Supreme Court should keep you awake at night. The above is laughable. > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I’ve got to say, Randall Terry would make a pretty terrible President. He’s largely single-issue on abortion, on other issues like a good Catholic, he could be fairly liberal on economics. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/48 "2011-08-23T15:36:39Z")
We can divide the Republican candidates into those reasonably sane if misguided (Romney and Huntsman,) those with policies that will screw up the country (the rest) and those who are just incompetent or total buffoons - Bachmann, Paul, Cain, Santorum. Bush the Younger at least had advisers who knew what they were doing (even if they were evil) but these guys don’t. They’d be totally out of their depth, and what is worse, they wouldn’t know it. Palin is in this category also. Look at Bush’s non-reaction to the warning about 911. He did better at the end, during the financial crisis, when he let those with a clue handle it. Most of these clowns would drive us right into a depression. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/49 "2011-08-23T16:26:25Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > When Clinton was president I was paying $.89 a gallon for gas. Is she saying she can’t do even half as well as Clinton? So what you are saying is Bill already has her submissive and on her knees. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/50 "2011-08-23T17:09:53Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Is anyone willing to argue that Obama is the worst choice for 2012? He’s had quite a few fuckups, not the least of which being the fact that his presidency looks a whole lot like a Republican wet dream. During his presidency, the minority governing party Republicans keep getting whatever they want! Not voting for Obama because of this is like saying “I’m not happy with the amount of criminals the police are catching, so I’ll fire them and just give the badges and guns to the criminals themselves”. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/51 "2011-08-23T19:01:33Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > Is anyone willing to argue that Obama is the worst choice for 2012? I will, sort of. I see the country being the most fucked if Obama or Bachmann win. His policies do little to help the country, and she’s a nutjob. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Obama has created more jobs in 3 years than Bush did in 8 years. Cite, please? [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jobs_created_during_U.S._presidential_terms) disagrees with you. Unless you’re trying to say that even though we have 2.4 million fewer jobs than at the start of Obama’s term he’s somehow created more than a million jobs (so -3,400,000 + 1,000,000= -2,400,000)? Create generally means having more than you started with, not merely gaining back a fraction of the jobs lost during your term. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/52 "2011-08-23T19:43:21Z")
Yeah, I think **Fear Itself** mucked up the quote. The one I always heard was that Obama created more jobs in 2010 than Bush did in 8 years, which I believe is an accurate statement. It completely ignores the job losses of 2009 of course. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/53 "2011-08-25T06:36:07Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > Yeah, I think **Fear Itself** mucked up the quote. The one I always heard was that Obama created more jobs in 2010 than Bush did in 8 years, which I believe is an accurate statement. It completely ignores the job losses of 2009 of course. Considering that the temporary census jobs, hundreds of thousands of them, count towards “jobs created” (see any jobs report for May of 2010) despite only lasting a few weeks, it’s hardly surprising considering 2010 was a census year and no census was taken during Bush’s time in office. Edit: look here [http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/17/nancy-pelosi/nancy-pelosi-says-more-jobs-created-obamas-first-y/](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/may/17/nancy-pelosi/nancy-pelosi-says-more-jobs-created-obamas-first-y/) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/54 "2011-08-29T17:32:55Z")
The Obama programs also saved a lot of jobs. Just counting new jobs is bad analysis. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/55 "2011-09-02T06:31:00Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > The Obama programs also saved a lot of jobs. Just counting new jobs is bad analysis. Ah yes, the mythical “saved jobs” that no economists have figured out how to quantify. There’s nothing in that quote about saved jobs, though, just a lie about ones created. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/56 "2011-09-02T13:37:32Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Ah yes, the mythical “saved jobs” that no economists have figured out how to quantify. There’s nothing in that quote about saved jobs, though, just a lie about ones created. [http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/152201/3\_reality-based\_charts\_your\_right-wing\_relatives\_will\_have\_a\_hard\_time\_ignoring/](http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/152201/3_reality-based_charts_your_right-wing_relatives_will_have_a_hard_time_ignoring/) These charts clearly show the difference between the Bush admin and Obama’s. It also shows that the bleating of the rightys is totally misplaced as always. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/57 "2011-09-03T05:33:36Z")
I’m gonna go the other way entirely and say the worst would be Romney. The others are so outright crazy that they would waste their time with shit no one will pass. Romney, OTOH, _sounds_ much more reasonable, and has more actual chance of getting crazy-shit republican ideas through the congress. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/58 "2011-09-03T23:22:22Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/152201/3\_reality-based\_charts\_your\_right-wing\_relatives\_will\_have\_a\_hard\_time\_ignoring/](http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/152201/3_reality-based_charts_your_right-wing_relatives_will_have_a_hard_time_ignoring/) > These charts clearly show the difference between the Bush admin and Obama’s. It also shows that the bleating of the rightys is totally misplaced as always. Goodness! How can you link to such garbage with a straight face? If you cannot see the problem with these graphs in 20 seconds then, well, what’s the sense in arguing? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/59 "2011-09-04T00:59:58Z")
You’ve got that backwards, **yorick73**. If one _could_ see the problem in 20 seconds, _then_ there’d be no need to argue. But given that folks apparently can’t, maybe we need someone to point out the problems. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149/60 "2011-09-04T01:32:45Z")
Goodness! I looked at them for well over 20 seconds and couldn’t see anything particularly wrong with them…except perhaps that they don’t tell the entire story. But charts and graphs never do, and these weren’t intended to. Suppose you could enlighten us? SS [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-candidate-would-make-the-worst-president/593149.md?page=4)