# Which Leader of Your Country do you Feel Most Embarrassed By? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 10, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811 "2014-12-10T01:58:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/21 "2014-12-10T14:42:46Z")
> [@lilihob](#): > > Feeling massively stupid. I was torn between Nick Clegg’s " sorry, so sorry, rap" on YouTube, and Ed Milliband’s wallace head, and it all got finger fumbled. > Tony Blair is just plain evil, and Brown sold out the gold. > Spoilt for choice, we are. Don’t like them but Blair and Brown aren’t exactly embarrassing so as to make me cringe - both awful in there own way but at least looked like leaders. If opposition leaders are allowed Ed Milliband is up there but I’d nominate a previous leader of the Labour Party, Michael Foot (standing next to Margaret Thatcher in the [picture](https://chrishallamworldview.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/foot.jpg)). Thank god he never represented Britain internationally. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/22 "2014-12-10T14:49:04Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > This really isn’t meant to be a political debate. I am particularly interested in whom the non-US dopers really cringe over. As such. This will work better in IMHO than in GD. So moved. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/23 "2014-12-10T18:33:45Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#): > > Can I choose both Cheney and GWB ? > > Bush for being a goofy dumbass, and Cheney for being pure evil. In fairness, GW and the Dick may be our top tag-team to be ashamed of. But had Dukakis and Bentsen won, I am sure they would have ran a close second. I voted for the guy but even I have to admit he was a flamboyant idiot in public. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/24 "2014-12-10T18:57:10Z")
> [@simple\_homer](#): > > Can I choose both Cheney and GWB ? > > Bush for being a goofy dumbass, and Cheney for being pure evil. On the other hand, they used to do this cool trick where Dubya talked while Cheney drank water. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/25 "2014-12-10T19:24:00Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > On the other hand, they used to do this cool trick where Dubya talked while Cheney drank water. That’s the trick, everybody forgets the third guy. Karl Rove was working the controls from backstage all the time. Hope I didn’t ruin the illusion for anyone. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/26 "2014-12-10T19:40:17Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > In fairness, GW and the Dick may be our top tag-team to be ashamed of. But had Dukakis and Bentsen won, I am sure they would have ran a close second. I voted for the guy but even I have to admit he was a flamboyant idiot in public. How Dukakis got the nomination is beyond me. He must be the least charismatic president in history. Bush and Cheney, hands down. Never have so few been so wrong about so much to bring so much misery to so many and feel so little remorse. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/27 "2014-12-10T19:52:43Z")
Another vote for Dubya. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/28 "2014-12-10T19:55:07Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > That’s the trick, everybody forgets the third guy. Karl Rove was working the controls from backstage all the time. Hope I didn’t ruin the illusion for anyone. Not forgetting him. Never forgetting that S.O.B. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/29 "2014-12-10T20:58:03Z")
I don’t want to be a wet blanket here, but we’ve done the Bush hating endlessly (and FWIW, I’m right there with you). I was really looking for the leaders and incidents who, even though they might have been good policymakers, managed to look foolish or belligerent, etc. The Tony Abbot example: In one clip I saw he talked about someone being the “suppository of knowledge.” I don’t know the man’s policies and positions at all. He could be the greatest leader in the world. But that is just horrid and fantastic all at once, and certainly not putting Australia in a good light. By way of explanation (or dead horse beating), I would argue that even if one hates Obama, he does a good job of representing- calm, professional, well spoken, not prone to gaffes, etc. NOTE: Suppository of knowledge has gone right into my A-list of sayings… I will use that as much as possible, and giggle with delight, and it shall be good. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/30 "2014-12-10T21:01:50Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Don’t like them but Blair and Brown aren’t exactly embarrassing so as to make me cringe - both awful in there own way but at least looked like leaders. If opposition leaders are allowed Ed Milliband is up there but I’d nominate a previous leader of the Labour Party, Michael Foot (standing next to Margaret Thatcher in the [picture](https://chrishallamworldview.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/foot.jpg)). Thank god he never represented Britain internationally. Know what would’ve been brilliant? If he held his wreath just a bit higher… And maybe if they all were a touch closer together… ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/31 "2014-12-10T21:34:13Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I was really looking for the leaders and incidents who, even though they might have been good policymakers, managed to look foolish or belligerent, etc. Early in Obama’s tenure, he received a gift from the British prime minister: a pen holder made of wood salvaged from an anti-slave ship. He reciprocated with a collection of movies on DVDs, which were later found to be coded for Region 1 (i.e. could not be played on British DVD players). Classy. He also inexplicably returned a bust of Winston Churchill that they had loaned to us after 9/11. This caused quite a stir across the pond. Don’t forget the gift (to the Queen) of an iPod preloaded with photos of Obama’s inauguration and some of his speeches. Worth noting, too, that she already had an iPod at the time. And then there’s the weirdness with his treatment of the soldier standing at attention outside Marine One. Early on, he neglected to salute when boarding the helicopter, then came back out to shake the Marine’s hand. The Marine, however, was still standing at attention and had not been given the “at ease” order, creating an awkward moment. More recently, there was the “salute” with an empty coffee cup in his saluting hand. “oh shit, yeah, salute, whatever.” George W. Bush sounded like an idiot every time he tried to speak spontaneously in public. He just could not compose a smooth sentence on the fly; in that regard, he was the polar opposite of Bill Clinton. George H.W. Bush barfing in front of the Japanese prime minister was pretty cringeworthy. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/32 "2014-12-10T21:36:25Z")
Without a doubt the current incompetent, in-so-far-over-his-head-its-not-funny, buffoon (Obama for future thread readers). And decades from now GWB will be remembered as a great president! ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/33 "2014-12-10T21:41:35Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Without a doubt the current incompetent, in-so-far-over-his-head-its-not-funny, buffoon (Obama for future thread readers). And decades from now GWB will be remembered as a great president! LOL ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/34 "2014-12-10T22:07:29Z")
Wasn’t it Bush the Elder who threw up on the Prime Minister of Japan? That’s about as embarrassing as it gets. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/35 "2014-12-10T22:08:18Z")
I’ll go with Andrew Jackson, mainly because he doesn’t get nearly as such criticism as he should. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/36 "2014-12-10T22:10:59Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Wasn’t it Bush the Elder who threw up on the Prime Minister of Japan? That’s about as embarrassing as it gets. It was, but I don’t recall him having a pattern of making a fool of himself. My assumption there is that he didn’t feel well, decided that “the show must go on” and then things got worse, fast. I can recall a similar incident when feeling a bit off turned into vomiting on my wife’s feet before I could even stand up. She’s not let me forget that one. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/37 "2014-12-10T22:35:10Z")
Dubya. Used 9-11 as a pretext to destroy all privacy with The Patriot Act and to start a war to settle a personal score with Saddam Hussein for putting a contract hit out on his father. Also, “Did lines of Coke while his Intelligence Service Staff tortured” is right up there with “Fiddled while Rome Burned”. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/38 "2014-12-10T22:49:11Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Without a doubt the current incompetent, in-so-far-over-his-head-its-not-funny, buffoon (Obama for future thread readers). And decades from now GWB will be remembered as a great president! I know you’re joking, but some people really feel this way. I don’t get it. Sure, you can object to Obama’s pretty moderate policies, but he’s a good solid manager and as honest as they come. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/39 "2014-12-10T23:03:03Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I don’t want to be a wet blanket here, but we’ve done the Bush hating endlessly (and FWIW, I’m right there with you). > > I was really looking for the leaders and incidents who, even though they might have been good policymakers, managed to look foolish or belligerent, etc. The thing is I think by all rights Bush _should_ have been the poster boy for what you’re looking for. Even ignoring any opinions one might have about his policies, his whole brash folksy anti-intellectual cowboy shtick really played into just about every stereotype foreigners have about Americans and, along with general gaffe-proneness, was pretty embarrassing but harmless on its own. I think that had 9/11 not happened, he probably would have had a pretty uneventful presidency and would be widely remembered as a generally okay placeholder president with some funny quirks. Of course 9/11 did happen and subsequently he either, depending on your point of view, rose to the challenge and moved from bumbling mediocrity into greatness, or started making policy blunders that go _wayyy_ beyond merely embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811/40 "2014-12-10T23:08:13Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > The thing is I think by all rights Bush _should_ have been the poster boy for what you’re looking for. Even ignoring any opinions one might have about his policies, his whole brash folksy anti-intellectual cowboy shtick really played into just about every stereotype foreigners have about Americans and, along with general gaffe-proneness, was pretty embarrassing but harmless on its own. > > I think that had 9/11 not happened, he probably would have had a pretty uneventful presidency and would be widely remembered as a generally okay placeholder president with some funny quirks. Of course 9/11 did happen and subsequently he either, depending on your point of view, rose to the challenge and moved from bumbling mediocrity into greatness, or started making policy blunders that go _wayyy_ beyond merely embarrassing. I agree 100%. I was reacting to the people who said that their embarrassment stemmed from things like the Iraq war. While that’s a legitimate reason to feel that way, it’s different from what I was asking about because it is an actual, legitimate (if misguided) policy. That’s as opposed to say, Tony Abbot essentially challenging Putin to a fight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-leader-of-your-country-do-you-feel-most-embarrassed-by/706811.md?page=3)