Worst President Ever

I have made no secret I think Obama is a lousy President. I find it hard to point to one positive accomplishment. Perhaps getting us kinda, sorta, mostly out of Iraq qualifies. I might even point toward setting an end point to our involvement in Afghanistan, but the way we are going about it seems like the whole last decade was an exercise in wasting the lives of thousands of young Americans. Billions of dollars and thousands of lives pissed away in the arsehole of the earth with the end result leaving the Taliban in charge and nothing different from September 10, 2001. Bin Laden is dead, there is that.

The failure of the war on Terror can not be laid completely at the feet of the current occupant of the White House. The previous administration (and the one before that) have tried to wage  bloodless war. We have opted for high precision attacks, hoping against hope that no Americans die, no civilians die, and only the worst of the enemy leaders expire. It seems the politicians, the press, and perhaps even the people no longer have the stomach to unleash the dogs of war. I did not serve. Perhaps that sentiment is well and good. I am in no position to say what is the right way to wage war.

Anyway, I was reflecting on the achievements of the current occupant of the White House before I was sidetracked by my own wandering mind. Is Obama the worst President in history? He is not the most ineffective, Carter still wins that battle.  His has wrought changes that may well bode ill for the future. One can not argue Obama is incompetent and ineffective then blame him for ObamaCare and massive deficits. You can not attribute long-term damage to society, the economy, and the American way and then call him the golfer-in-chief.

I do think we are in the midst of a long period of very bad Presidents. The string of Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama will likely vie with the stretch of Presidents starting with William Henry Harrison through Buchanan (Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Filmore, Pierce, Buchanan) for the weakest string of Executives in American history.  Just as I forget Filmore when trying to recite the list of Presidents in my brain, future Americans will likely forget the weak sisters that occupied the White House at the turn of the millennium.

Obama can rest assured, he is not the worst President in history. That mark must now and forever belong to adopted Indiana son William Henry Harrison who managed to get sick at his inaugural. He spent the next month wasting away in bed before croaking. There is nary a positive action on his part as Chief Executive.