The Worst President of The United States

Who has been the worst President of the United States?

by Roy D. Follendore III

January 29, 2006

Politicians are not very pretty, even though they definitely attempt to be politically fashionable. For some reason they particularly like their hair. Clinton and whoever that last Democratic candidate for President was, really liked their hair. (All of the conservatives out there are probably thinking that this says something about the fact that the winner of the campaign is all that counts.) Well I would have to disagree... I prefer to think of it as 'cognitive dissonance." I may not remember his name at the moment but I do remember his hair. Who ever does their makeup and selects their wardrobe seems to have learned their trade from the funeral industry because most of the time when they are attempting to look young and refreshing they actually look like the living dead. In all seriousness, the point is not about the makeup or the hair, and it isn't really the clothes that make the President.

Most people have probably got it all wrong... by thinking that being great and being terrible are at opposite ends of the spectrum. I say that being a great President is not even on the same plane as being a terrible President. A President can simultaneously be both terrible and great. Being great has a lot to do with the ability to wield power. Being terrible means pretty much just one thing. It is often the President's charisma that decide whether a President is going to go down in history as a truly great President, not his (or her) intelligence or brilliant mind or even the decisions made in office. Napoleon was obviously a great Emperor of France, and he may have done a few things well while in power, but he was an utter black dog as far as what he lead his people through. Everyone in Germany thought that young Adolf was great, and in terms of being able to gain and use great power, he obviously was, but he was also criminally insane and his decisions were pretty much evil incarnate. At the other end of the stick, we have this issue of 'bad' that is in many ways disassociated with the love that we all have for our own admiration of those who gain the position to get things accomplished.

Politicians are narcissist for power. They want to look pretty in order to gain power. They talk themselves into saying that "if I only can get into a position of power, I can make a positive difference." Then they use that hair spray and moose to get there only to find that they may actually have to do something. They may look like that President of the United States, and they may have won the responsibilities of the President, but are they going to be the worst President in history? Keep in mind that they are asked to make what is essentially a mausoleum of history their home. Presidents live in colonial home in the center of a city crammed full of monuments. It isn't as if they actually are given the power to paint their home yellow. These are individuals who are given the power to destroy the world, but are constrained by the power of history. If a President happens to have a shred of decency in them, when it comes down to it, history is the one issue that counts for them.

Throw out all of these other political polls because this is the only poll that should make a difference to them. Take a moment to put yourself into that position. Once you are made President, it is the President's ranking with other President's that is all important. It devastates an individuals vanity to maintain the realization that the majority believe that they are a bad person. Harsh judgment is rightfully measured in terms of history and it is because The Presidents of the United States are given to such a powerful position, it is rightful that this measure be 'liberally' allotted to them.

I therefore propose that Americans need a constant pole that keeps a continually tally of the worst Presidents of The United States. Such a democratic poll, if open to all Americans and not manipulated by the incumbent might become a popular force for influencing Presidential behavior. Perhaps as well, over time it would certainly tell Americans a great deal about themselves. At the very least, writers could write about it and so keep the issue of Presidential rankings in the public eye.

.