# Who is/was the best Ex-President? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 3, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046 "2018-08-03T15:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/61 "2018-08-07T17:13:00Z")
Well, kids with drug problems is something I think all too many parents can relate too. Your brother going to Libya to peddle influence on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/62 "2018-08-07T18:45:29Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > We’re just making stuff up now. That’s my concern. We are so desperate to unseat Trump that we’re trying to prop up a very old, average politician as the next coming. > > J More ageism. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/63 "2018-08-07T20:42:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > More ageism. You may not think that having a man in the White House at 79 is worthy of consideration but I do. It’s a brutally demanding job with pressures that I probably can’t imagine. I think being 79 during ones prospective first term is a valid discussion point not agesim. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/64 "2018-08-07T22:07:34Z")
People live longer nowadays. We now know that Bob Dole and John McCain both would have been fine had they served two terms. Rather than worrying about age, look at how old the person appears to be by their mental faculties and how healthy they appear to be. Joe looks fantastic and his mind is as sharp as ever. Heck, Carter served 40 years ago and he looks like he could do the job today. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/65 "2018-08-07T22:21:24Z")
Yes, but a president has to be fit and able to handle the demands of the job, not just at the time they’re elected, but for the following 4+ years; and the office notoriously ages many of the men who have held it. That they won’t last is a risk for anyone, but more of a risk the older they are. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/66 "2018-08-09T00:54:33Z")
I think Teddy Roosevelt had a very interesting post-presidency, in that he quickly realized that he made a mistake in turning over the reins of office to Taft, and thereafter spent a good deal of his life trying to regain the office, interspersed with safaris. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2018, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/67 "2018-10-01T10:38:53Z")
What I find interesting is the first President to really cash in on the job was the only unelected President in history - Gerald Ford. IIRC Reagan rolled back the years and did some big money tv commericials in Japan soon after he left which was met with some condemnation at home. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/68 "2018-10-01T10:47:25Z")
McCain wouldn’t have been “fine” for two terms. He survived that long, true, but he was already needing a lot of time off for medical care before the end of Obama’s term. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2018, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/69 "2018-10-02T16:32:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > McCain wouldn’t have been “fine” for two terms. He survived that long, true, but he was already needing a lot of time off for medical care before the end of Obama’s term. So it would have been six years of President McCain and two years of Acting President Palin. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/70 "2018-10-12T01:54:26Z")
I don’t think anyone is desperately looking at Biden. I think they see a liberal who is also good at appealing to the white working class, and thus they like him. Age is only relevant if the Vice President can’t step up and fill in. That’s what tanked McCain: people didn’t want a Palin presidency. (Not saying he would have won without her, but that she’s the reason he lost so badly. Republicans were counting on identity politics and didn’t consider whether the candidate was intelligent. Then again, it worked for Trump.) ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2018, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/71 "2018-10-14T05:25:22Z")
Bodhi was the best. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/72 "2018-10-15T18:14:27Z")
The best ex-president was the best president: William Henry Harrison ---
**Author:** ![fedman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/278dde/32.png) [@fedman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/73 "2018-10-20T13:30:01Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Definitely Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower. what?? Reagan got rich friends to bankroll him, nothing else, and Ike just played golf ---
**Author:** ![survinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@survinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/survinga)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/74 "2018-10-20T14:48:55Z")
I will go with Jimmy Carter as the best ex-President. My family and I went to see him teach Sunday School back in 2013, in Plains, GA. He was very good, with a smart, quick, and sharp mind. And he would make a pretty darn good Baptist Minister, too. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/75 "2018-10-20T19:31:12Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I misread the thread title, and was thinking of who was the best President no longer in office. > . We’re not gonna have a best president (small “P”) STILL in office. ---
**Author:** ![DragonAsh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DragonAsh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DragonAsh)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/76 "2018-10-22T05:46:39Z")
For those keeping score at home: iiandyiiii 1, adaher 0. I look forward to seeing what Obama will do with his post-office career. I think he’s keeping a low profile now while the turd is in the White House (Obama making headlines now simply gives the turd more ammo for his base). ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/77 "2018-10-22T05:59:53Z")
I’ve always preferred ex-Presidents to go quietly into the good night. Maybe the occasional philanthropic endeavor but largely apolitical and out of the way. Basically, the anti-Carter. In my mind that’d be either Bush and perhaps Clinton. Perhaps Reagan too, but I have a hard time remembering back that far, and his Alzheimer’s pretty much necessitated it anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/78 "2018-10-22T12:39:31Z")
Yes, I was ruminating just the other day about what a shameless attention whore Jimmy Carter has been for the last 40 years. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/79 "2018-10-22T16:31:30Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Yes, I was ruminating just the other day about what a shameless attention whore Jimmy Carter has been for the last 40 years. Yeah, and he’s been _super_ political and in the way. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046/80 "2018-10-22T19:30:53Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > John Quincy Adams was a leading voice of abolitionism, and the leader of the founding of the Smithsonian, in his long post-Presidency career in the House. To expand, after his presidency, JQA served in the House of Representatives for 16 years, acting as a gadfly until he literally died in the house. He had a massive stroke while on the floor, at 78, and was moved to the Speaker’s Room, where he died two days later. My vote goes to John Quincy. > [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > Yeah, because Kennedy did a lot of great stuff as an ex-president :dubious: I hear he helped LBJ get civil rights legislation through. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-was-the-best-ex-president/819046.md?page=3)