Presidential Catastrophes

What are the five worst things that have happened in Presidential politics in the last half century? Here are my picks in order of severity. Feel free to comment or add some of your top picks.

5. Jimmy Carter losing to Ronald Reagan: The Reagan era led to a recession, a step backward in civil rights and social programs, Iran contra, and a friendship with Saddam Hussein. I suppose this is less of a knock on Reagan, though, and more of a contrast between him and Carter. Carter's political blunder was the mishandling of the hostage crisis in Iran, not that he could control that. Carter was dedicated to equality, civil rights, and social justice. What Reagan did was strain relations between the US and the rest of the world, much like GW is doing today (of course, GW is a little better at making people hate us). Reagan also gave us Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, both conservatives justices.

4. Watergate: Obviously, this has to make the list. Although I do not despise what Nixon did during his presidency, his misgivings led to a loss of respect for and concern about the Presidency.

3. GW Bush's second term: As if the first term were not bad enough, the American people were duped into re-electing the worst President in the last century, possibly ever. Bush's tax the poor, relieve the rich efforts and his attempts to make religion into law are only a few of his domestic shortcomings. I guess the voting public thought the gay marriage amendment was more important than ousting a President that led this country to war under false pretenses and laughed at our civil liberties. The re-election of Dubya allowed him to select Roberts and Alito for the Supreme Court, both conservative justices. Alito replaced Justice O'Connor, a key moderate that sided with progressive social causes in most cases.

2. The assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy: What can one say about this? There is an unspoken grief the country still feels about that day in Dallas, whether you were alive or not. Growing up, watching documentaries about JFK and his life, you can't help but feel a sense of loss, a sense of missed opportunity. JFK was THE white leader in the civil rights movement. Without him and his successor (LBJ) following his lead, our country may still be in the grips of segregation. To a certain extent, the assassination of his brother Robert was also a huge blow to this country's progress. RFK had a solid chance of becoming president in 1968. Guess who won that year. Nixon. If you want to read a really moving speech by RFK about Dr. King's death, click here. Yes, this is only # 2, and you'll see why below.

1. GW Bush stealing the 2000 election: Why is this #1? JFK and RFK were able to contribute to our society, and their legend and words are still with us today. Al Gore never had that chance, although he is making strides today in environmental awareness. The real sting of it is, Gore was not fairly defeated. I will forever believe that Florida was a huge snow job in 2000. Things happened during that election that are so shady and suspicious. Florida's Secretary of State, Katherine Harris made a list of 58,000 "felons" to purge from the voter roles. The original list of 8,000 was contrived by a company called DBT, and expanded on by Harris to include people with the same surname and the same date of birth. Independent investigators have found that 95% of that list was incorrect. And guess who shares the last name with the Rodriguez's and Cooper's. Democrats. DBT is led by a group of GOP veterans. Katherine Harris is now a Congresswoman. It is amazing no one has been indicted. Of course, we all know what this led to: A war of aggression, a Supreme Court swing, No White Child Left Behind, the list goes on and on. Not only this, though, but I believe we missed out on Gore's presidency. Yes, he sounded boring, but he was passionate and intelligent. Bush's response to 9-11 was so disheartening. After Pearl Harbor, FDR asked Americans to be strong, to help our country, to make sacrifices. After 9-11, Bush told us to go shopping and never mind those guys in sunglasses parked across the street from your grandma. What would Gore have done? We'll never know. But I can take a wild guess that he wouldn't have asked us to buy cars after a terrorist attack, worsened education, turned a $500 million surplus into a $500 million deficit, cut Medicaid for seniors, and tipped the balance of a court that is so important in this a critical time for our country.