Not too long ago I read some comment on an article in the Huffington Post by a conservative who stated that President Obama was the "worst" president ever. As is usually the case, the claimant provided no parameters for this judgment. Nor did he provide any examples. Some people seem to think that if they state something often enough, that it makes it true. But it got me to thinking. If we take the basis for the common criticisms of Obama, who, I wondered, would be considered the worst president using those criteria? It quickly became apparent who the worst had to be.
Obama is criticized for raising the debt too much. The worst president raised the debt much more on a percentage basis than Obama, even after he campaigned for a balanced budget. In fact, when he left office, the debt was much larger a percentage of the economy than it is now, the worst, in fact, in US history. Nope, this guy was much worse than Obama.
Another complaint about Obama is how bad the economy is now. Critics like to point out that a member of his administration claimed the unemployment rate wouldn't get above 8% if the stimulus bill were passed. It got up to 10.3% and is now still 8.3%. Well, that's nothing. After 8 years in office, unemployment was around 12% for the worst president.
Another criticism of Obama is that he is dividing the nation, engaging in class warfare. Yet in his last major negotiation with the Republicans, the Republican leader John Boehner later said that he, Boehner, got 98% of what he wanted. The worst president rarely if ever negotiated with his opponents. He also openly engaged in class warfare. He railed against what he called economic royalists. In one speech he famously said, I know that some people hate me because of my policies. "I welcome their hatred!" Much worse than Obama for sure.
Obama is criticized for being a socialist and wanting to impose European policies on America. If that were true of his health care bill, private insurance companies would be outlawed and we would have a government run health care system like most all of Europe. The worst president's major social legislation was adopted almost completely from European examples, with little difference from them. His critics not only called him and his policies socialist, they said they were the forerunners of communism. The critics said that the worst president's policies were ruining the nation.
According to his critics, Obama's attempts to regulate the financial institutions are a terrible assault on free enterprise that will stifle the economy. Ah, but the worst president went far beyond that. His major financial regulations were more stringent than Obama's bill. The worst president also established not just one, but a whole slew of new regulatory agencies. He also did a lot to help labor unions, something Obama hasn't even attempted. Again there is no contest.
People have complained about Obama continuing the war in Afghanistan, even though most people no longer support that war. That's nothing. The worst president, despite overwhelming public sentiment against war, actively sought to get the United States into an unpopular war even while the US was at peace. Moreover, he goaded other nations to the point that they attacked US forces. And yet, although the worst president wanted the US to get into war, when we were attacked, we were caught by surprise. I know it is unbelievable,but it is true.
Critics on the left have complained that Obama has not changed enough the policies of the Bush administration that some claim deny civil liberties. Critics on the right warn that Obama may take away your guns and round up dissidents. Well, the worst president outdid all that. Without trial or any legal justification, the worst president rounded up and jailed over 100,000 people without any proof as to their danger. It was probably the worst case of denial of civil liberties in US history.
There's even more that doesn't have an Obama equivalent. The worst president had traveled widely in Europe and even spoke some European languages! Talk about someone being too European! The worst president tried to pressure the Supreme Court to rule the way he wanted and even went so far as to try and change the number of justices, so he could appoint a majority of justices. Finally, the worst president created a regional government business which included a power company and provided other services that are traditionally the province of private enterprise. He really and truly was a socialist.
If you haven't guessed by now, the worst president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) who is widely considered by historians to be one of our greatest presidents. Winston Churchill called him "The greatest man I ever knew." This is not to suggest that Obama is or ever will be considered as great as FDR, but to show how FDR was far to the left of Obama. In fact, when you examine Richard Nixon's policies, he was to the left of Obama. What this does show is how far to the right the Republican Party has gone and how out of touch with reality if has become. Thomas Sowell, a leading conservative intellectual, who is a economics professor at Stanford, in his column recently wrote complaining about the ruinous policies of Roosevelt and how he should not have intervened so much in the economy. Here's the kicker. He was complaining about Teddy Roosevelt, not FDR. That's where conservatives are today. they want to return to the day of the robber barons, monopoly capitalism and no government regulation whatsoever.
No comments:
Post a Comment