Best Democratic President out of the Last 5

That is a tough question.

I will go with Clinton, but it is hard to say for sure. He is partially responsible for the student loan crisis and NAFTA.

Obama was not great on foreign policy.

Jimmy Carter was mediocre overall.

Kennedy was good but not around long.

LBJ would be the run away winner but the Vietnam war hurts.

 

I agree with much of this but gave it narrowly to Obama. All of these presidents have been very capable but also have had flaws. Both Obama and Clinton were lost on foreign policy largely because they inherited situations that weren't good and didn't really do a great job on them. Both though domestically did very good jobs dealing with recessions. It's somewhat unfair to Clinton that he didn't face as big of a crisis as the 2008 collapse so we don't know how he would've handled it but Obama handled it very well. Also that Obama was able to get a health care plan passed while Clinton couldn't. In both cases it cost them dearly in the Congress but Obama did succeed where Clinton failed.

I think everyone agrees that Carter is a far better person than he was a President. Even as President I don't think he was as bad as people think. He got a very bad hand with multiple crisis that he weren't of his creation.

LBJ I completely agree could've been one of our greatest Presidents if not for how he handled Vietnam.

JFK I know many posters don't like this but I will say again that he was a mediocre President when you look at his actual record. He was a gifted speaker and truly charismatic but his only real legislative accomplishment was a tax cut and he had a record of failures with the Berlin Crisis, Bay of Pigs and even the Cuban Missile Crisis rather than a ringing victory for the US was really more of a push given that the US gave up strategic missiles in Turkey. Also at a time when we are very concerned about nepotism in the office appointing his RFK to AG was a conflict of interest and shouldn't have happened. While we all rightfully criticize Barr for eroding the barriers between the White House and the AG office JFK and RFK did that too.

 

I agree with almost all of this but I chose JFK.

I like Obama's foreign policy a lot and thought he did well there. I think he wasn't the best negotiator for his ideas. He also cut whistle-blower protections.

Clinton didn't do enough to battle terrorism.

 

It’s LBJ hands down. His Great Society legislation included 4 civil rights bills, creation of Medicare and Medicaid along with expansion of Social Security and federal funding for education. All of it is the bedrock that the current US relies upon.

 

The Carter & LBJ Presidencies have really looked much different over the course of history. The Reagan, and Clinton presidencies really have been the two that really at the time looked great, but have been a completely disaster over the course of history.

The big issue with LBJ was Vietnam. However given what we know now, it's hard to see any other president not ending up in the same mine field. JFK certainly didn't leave him an easy way to avoid sending troops, and we now know that Nixon had a hand in making that war just long enough to kill him politically. Still... I have a soft spot for him especially since he was an educator first, from Texas, a Bobcat like me, and was one of the more progressive presidents ever policy wise (see Great Society, etc.)

But I think Obama really was the sharpest. He was not perfect, but it's really nit picky to find those soft areas. He setup a pretty robust economy that the Republican party destroyed, and completely changed the dynamic of healthcare in this country. He also had a big hand in really turning the tide away from the post 9/11 years by symbolically taking out Bin Laden, and setting up the middle east to run out ISIS with allied forces in the area ... which of course Trump took credit for, and has tried to destroy any progress made there too by doing dumb things like turning on the Kurds, etc.

So hard to say, but I'd say Obama, but LBJ & Carter's presidencies have looked much better over the course of History knowing what we know now.

 

Good post and agree that in many ways LBJ was forced into Vietnam and his options were limited. I still think there are things he could've handled better with Vietnam and one big problem was the messaging of the war. Support really dried up for the war when it was clear that the US government was lying about the state of the war. While being more honest about that the war wasn't going as well as was portrayed might not have saved LBJ I think history would've looked better on him if he had.

I disagree that Reagan and Clinton presidencies have been shown to be complete disasters. I think they've been shown to be much more checkered. Both were very complex legacies with a lot of contradictions.

 

i was about to post something similar regarding JFK. id also add to this that while LBJ certainly escalated our involvement in vietnam, JFK was the one who got us in there in the first place. he also knew early on that it was a no-win situation, but like many other presidents, allowed politics to dictate his decision-making.

"We don't have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those people hate us. They are going to throw our asses out of there at any point. But I can't give up that territory to the communists and get the American people to re-elect me." - JFK in April 1963.

historians debate whether or not he would have escalated like LBJ did or gotten us out...he was talking about pulling all troops out, but at that point the politics of the situation might have prevented it...would he have wanted to look like he was surrendering to commies in an election year?

and on the issue of desegregation and civil rights for blacks he did not take nearly the strong stand that LBJ did and it took him awhile to come around and take action...he was basically dragged into doing something by MLK and the freedom riders.

he did a lot of wreckless things as president (as he did in his personal life) and if he had not been assassinated i dont think he would be as highly regarded today.

i never voted for him, but id have to say clinton was the best of the past 5.

but james k polk is the greatest democratic president ever and probably the most successful president. he promised he would only serve one term and he had four goals. he got all of them in his first term and then promptly died.

 

Like the Polk callout. A great historical find

 

It would be hands down LBJ if not for the war.

 

I choose JFK but really I feel all of f them Esp on foreign policy were awful

The Cuban missile crisis maybe and a belief it was handled well is JFKs saving grace.
Lyndon I've got a soft spot for but like JFK the Vietnam war was an abject failure.

Carter had crisis after crisis.
The oil crisis, the recession, the Iran hostages.

Clinton too I don't like his foreign policy. He really had an opportunity to set a global framework with the collapse of the USSR. And he really blew a great opportunity, to integrate Russia into the Democrat world. I think Bush Snr was actually better here.

Obama too on foreign policy was a disaster. Supported democracy in Egypt then didn't.
No policy on Syria. Libya fell into disrepair.
No plan of success in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Economically apart from Carter they've been much more successful.

The only one to have a recession was Carter, despite 24 years amongst the other 4. I think the last 10 Republican presidents have had a recession.

I went with JFK for sentiment but they were all strong economic managers. While foreign policy wise maybe let down their presidency. (I'm not saying like W but they weren't they weren't great).

 

Lyndon B. Johnson. Without him, the Lakers would fall apart.