Re: Who was the worst president in you lifetime?

On Sun, 28 Oct 2007 20:07:46 -0600, Joe Long <nospam@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

Tim Norfolk wrote:

Since I was new to this country when Reagan became president, my own
thoughts are mixed. What exactly did he do that made him so great?

Few Democrats will admit it for another 30-40 years or so, but his
accomplishments are many. Perhaps most importantly his ability to
inspire the public, and make Americans feel good about themselves and
their country again.

Translation: He gave good speeches.

When he took office our economy was going into the toilet, and he turned
around the doldrums of stagflation that had their roots in Johnson's
"guns and butter" policies and Nixon's wage-price controls, and turned
it to the robustly growing economy that we have enjoyed for the last 20
years.

He helped to bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union and win the
Cold War. His "tear down this wall" speech was a classic moment in
history. No, the speech didn't bring down Communism, or even the wall,
but it captured a vital cusp of history.

Or maybe Reagan gets a lot of credit for the fall of the USSR that he
doesn't deserve merely because the USSR happened to collapse while he
was president.

He brought along supply-side economics and tax reform that helped to
hold back the growth of government spending and programs by "starving
the beast."

In other words, he cut aid to the poor while gaving huge tax breaks to
the wealthy. The result was that homelessness, largely unheard of
before 1980, became a major national issue. Meanwhile, he created
huge budget deficits by vastly increasing military spending.

He also pretended that AIDS didn't exist, or that it was only a gay
disease and therefore not worthy of attention.

He set into motion welfare reform programs that culminated in the
Clinton Administration.

Ah, so Reagan set the stage for Clinton! Finally, a actual
accomplishment!


That should do for starters. I regard him as one of the best half-dozen
or so U. S. Presidents in our history, and the best during my lifetime
(interesting that his predecessor was the worst).

George W. Bush was his predecessor?
.