Five favorite politicians, and five not-so-favorite

This list grew out of an earlier thread, and is an approach to the problem of defining political orientation.  The web is full of various “political spectrum tests” but I thought it might be interesting to simply list politicians who strike in a positive and negative way. 

Hopefully this will be fun.  The intent is not to start arguments about the merits and demerits of each one (I am hardly a political scholar anyway), but to create a revealing picture and hopefully to see the picture created by other bloggers.

Looking at my own list I am already struck by one thing: how parochial it is.  For a guy who has visited most of the states in the Union and lived in several, this list is heavy on Illinois.  This means there must be a lot of really good or bad politicians about whom I am ignorant, and that alone will make other blogger’s lists interesting to read.

I’m inviting everyone to try this - and send me a link back to your list.  I’ll add the link to the bullet-list at the end of this post. Here are the “rules”:

Make a similar list on your own blog and send me a link to it.  Choose your 5 favorite and 5 least favorite American politicians dating back through your parents’ generation.  Give a short explanation - about three sentences - for each one.  The politicians need not be well-known.  If you’re really an incurable political junkie, you can go 10 and 10 with the same limitation on explanation length.  I’ll probably go with 5 and 5.

When you get your post ready, email me, or leave a link back to it in the comments this post.  I’m looking forward to reading what everyone comes up with!  Hope several people will decide to participate.

My five faves:

Adlai Stevenson was a model of virtuous and intelligent government servant.  A gifted speaker, legislator, and diplomat, he did a great deal to build international community and raise the level of political discourse at home.  Branded an “egghead” by Richard Nixon, he lost to Dwight Eisenhower in a presidential bid - one of the few elections where we’d have probably been OK with either candidate.

Dwight Eisenhower was a fiscal and social conservative, but he recognized the need for racial equality and took some important early steps to bring it about.  He viewed connective infrastructure as the road (pun intended) to economic development and was an intelligent strategist of US power abroad.

Bill Clinton raised US standing abroad, adroitly strengthening alliances while making right choices on the economy at home.  Fiscally conservative he shared with Eisenhower the distinction of having made difficult corrective budget choices and making them stick.  (He actually knew how to veto spending bills, and often did)  He worked inclusively with a hostile legislative branch, and weathered attacks on his personal flaws without giving in to Nixonian paranoia.

Paul Simon was a “pay-as-you-go Democrat” whose fiscal conservatism lay at the heart of his political liberalism.  Like Stevenson, he exemplified the intelligent public servant model of political representation (all too rare), and made a wide range of political connections on issues.  He felt that presidents were all too likely to follow when they should be leading, relying on the trust he had built with voters to carry him through disagreements with them.

Barack Obama, a protege of Paul Simon, has consistently stood for discourse over division in our country.  He identifies the danger to our republic from deep division and uses his considerable charisma to find national common ground instead of taking endless potshots at his opponents.  It’s probably too early for him to be president but we need him badly.

...and 5 not so good:

Ronald Reagan was a gifted speaker whose strong anti-government and anti-environmentalist ideology went a long way toward ideologically-driven government growth and budget deficits.  His likability masked disastrous foreign policy and corruption at home.  He seriously damaged our country, and looked great doing it.  He is exhibit number one on the importance of communication skills.

Richard Nixon almost made both my lists, because he (belatedly) ended the Vietnam war, signed the EPA into existence, and normalized relations with China.  These are non-trivial accomplishments but in the end his administration was overshadowed by his paranoid personality, paving the way for a dysfunctional Democratic party to sweep to victory.  In short, we got Carter because we had Nixon.  (And we got Reagan because we had Carter).

Rick Santorum is actually not all that remarkable among his religious-right band of smarmy hypocrites but as an example he’ll do.  Given his performance in the whole Terri Shaivo debacle as a negative example, at least he’s consistent.  He’s anti-gay rights, he opposed science-driven policy at every turn, advocating “Intelligent Design” and trying to torpedo NOAA on the preposterous basis that we could all just watch the weather channel, and pitched for WMD’s in Iraq.  He’s a piece of work, that one.

Newt Gingrich put the “hip” in hypocrite as he led the charge against Bill Clinton. A seriously smart guy, he’s authored several works on morality themes while displaying no personal ethics.  But he is not a lock-step tool of the party, and may turn out to be just the person to introduce some semblance of ecological responsibility to Republicans.

George W. Bush has just been a disaster.  He has undermined science-based policy, pumped crippling deficits, politicized otherwise nonpolitical agencies, plunged our country into a disastrous and completely unnecessary war that has made us far less secure, alienated our allies and destroyed our international moral credibility.  He has acted at the exclusive call of the wealthy, and damaged constitutional protections for individuals while weakening the checks and balances of our government.  He’s opposed equal rights for gays, chipped away at the wall separating church and state, and mangled public education with his ignorant hand at policy.  While I am not a historian, I am hard-pressed to think of a more incompetent and destructive president.

OK, now it’s your turn…

LINKS TO OTHER BLOGGERS’ LISTS:

  • Your list linked here, soon as you send me a link. Here are the lists that have been sent in already, with a teaser quote from each one:
  • Woo-Hoo! Here’s Les Jenkins’ List over at SEB...
    Carl Levin - A Michigan Democratic Senator, Levin has been in office for as long as I can remember. He was elected in 1978, I was 11 years old at the time, and he’s managed to hold onto his job ever since. He’s probably the politician I know best and his work on government transparency — he has pushed to have many documents declassified — and his votes against sending troops to Iraq and to have a timetable for withdrawal declared are just some of the reasons he’s a favorite. There’s very few issues on which he and I disagree.
  • Here’s a sample of GUYK’s very interesting list:
    The last time the politicians were that far apart it resulted in the emergence of a third party..the Republican party, the election of Lincoln to the White House, and the civil war. Those of us who have read some history send an alarming trend on both the right and the left of the political spectrum towards another refusal to compromise. Will it lead to a third party and another civil war? Maybe. My hopes are that it will lead to a third party just to avoid a civil war..a revolution at the polls.
  • And Webs05’s list contains a few surprises:
    - Arnold Schwarzenegger: ever since his victory moronic leftists have been crying about his corporate ties. Funny thing is, he is one of the few politicians that has not pandered to them. In fact he has actually called some of them a bunch of girly men which I find hilarious. I would love to see the constitution changed so he could be vice prez under Obama’s administration…
  • ***Dave has some thoughts about Obama and Jesse Helms:
    I’m not as sanguine (yet) about Obama (and, honestly, it’s too early for him to appear on lists like this), and any list like this that omits Jesse Helms is missing a frisson of…
     

 

Posted by George on 08/08/07 at 05:55 AM
Politics • (20) Comments • Link
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