Bush vs. Worst: Part III

Ronald Reagan. Is he really one of the ten worst Presidents ever? Eh, maybe. But he’s definitely more fun to talk about than Fillmore.

Foreign Policy: Reagan has one hell of a mixed bag on this one. On the good side, he was reasonably competent in the Israel-Lebanon war, had a pointless victory in Grenada (but at least he won), and, most important, shifted away from his own dumbassed belligerence to embrace Gorbachev’s efforts at reform. In other words, he was an appeaser. He appeased. This actually did help end the Cold War; that is, appeasement did. In other news, he ruined everything he touched in Latin America, including funding the Contras, a terrorist group. This policy would later be denounced as “state-sponsored terrorism” by some, and the World Court sanctioned us for it. But did Reagan stop? No. Nor did he stop his terrible policies in Colombia, Panama, Guatemala and especially El Salvador. But did Communism ever take hold in those places? No, because everyone was dead. Reagan also funded the Mujahedeen and Saddam Hussein in addition to illegally selling arms to Iran.
Did Bush Do Something Worse? Reagan gets more credit for ending the Cold War than he deserves, often by people who think it was his ludicrous tough-guy posturing rather than his return to basic diplomacy that did it, but at least it’s something good. Bush has just continually ruined everything.

Domestic Policy: Here the bag is less mixed. Reagan believed in small government, or government that provides few services to anyone while still running a massive budget and trade deficit. The economy did pretty well in the 80s, although Reagan contributed to the Savings and Loan scandal (see below!) and the stock market crash of 1987. He also completely ignored the environment, as well as AIDS. He believed that the government should have a bloated, wasteful military-industrial complex and War on Drugs, and he made those dreams a reality. He did make people feel good about America, though, which counts for something (very little).
DBDSW? Bush’s commitment to combating AIDS may be his biggest domestic strength. He’s probably been worse overall on the economy and environment. He hasn’t turned as many government programs into ineffective sinkholes as Reagan did, but Reagan never spied on his own citizens. Well, the AIDS thing is pretty big, so Bush wins this by a slim margin.

Civil Rights: Reagan was a casual racist who opposed the Civil Rights Act back in 1964. He started his 1980 campaign by going to a Southern town known for its racist terrorism and talking about states’ rights. Some would say that his policy of crushing the poor disproportionately affected minorities.
DBDSW? Katrina was a bigger racist failure than any one thing I can think of from Reagan, but Reagan had more harmful policies in general. I’d say Reagan wins this one by a small margin.

Corruption: The big scandals were the HUD controversy (pretty bad), Iran-Contra (one of the worst ever), EPA scandal (just regular bad) and the Savings & Loan Crisis (some believe it is the worst financial scandal in American history).
DBDSW? I listed the Bush scandals last time. He has more, but let’s try to compare the biggest from each. I’d say Torture-gate defeats the Iran-Contra scandal because it has ruined our ability to prosecute terrorism and involves war crimes (well, more war crimes). But Savings & Loan is worse than wiretapping, although it’s probably less Reagan’s fault. Bush has a deeper bench on this one, though, so he’s worse than Reagan overall.

VRP: Finally Reagan gets some big points on Bush. Where Bush inarguably took America to hell via a handbasket after a decent Presidency, Reagan did a mixed job after another terrible Presidency. Carter isn’t as bad as some people think, but he was bad. America could rest assured that Reagan was merely assuming control of a sinking ship, whereas Bush was steering a pretty good ship into the mouth of a volcano.

Verdict: This turned out to be much closer than I initially expected; Reagan was actually pretty awful. His work in Latin America was terrible stuff that ruined nations and left thousands upon thousands dead. But he did some things right, and America was doing much better at the close of his term than it is now. Bush is worse.

Coming Next: The drop-off to the next guy is amazing.

The list so far:
10. John Adams
9. Ronald Reagan
8. George W. Bush
7. ‽‽‽‽‽‽