Rating the Motivations of the Last Eight Presidents

[Russ]

What do you think the personal motivation are of Joe Biden as he tries and fails to be an effective President of the United States? I’ve gone to the trouble of researching this by, well, just consulting my own personal opinion, which seems to be how reporting works these days. I’ve also done the same with the preceding Presidents, back to Carter.

Motivations are broken down scientifically into 5 categories: 1) Altruism - Doing what’s best for the country 2) Payoffs - Pushing the interests of interest groups that made political donations 3) Party Line - pushing the general interests of your political party 4) Power – Love of having political clout 5) History and Statues – thinking you can do things that will result in statues of yourself in the future 6) Money – Getting under-the-table money from PACs, China, Ukraine, bribes, selling pardons, and selling bogus art, and 7) Scoring with Women – NOTE – this category was added specifically for Bill Clinton.

Here are the scientific results:

Joe Biden

1. Altruism – Hahahahah, no really, 0%
2. Payoffs – 5% (Teacher union, etc)
3. Party Line – 5%
4. Power – 5%
5. Statues – 70% (he really thought he would be FDR II)
6. Money – 15% (Joe’s got bills to pay)
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

Donald Trump

1. Altruism – 35% (he actually wanted to fix a broken system)
2. Payoffs – 0% (didn’t really have many big donations)
3. Party Line –10% (didn’t really owe GOP anything)
4. Power – 45%
5. Statues – 10 %
6. Money – 0% (didn’t even take a salary)
7. Scoring with Women – n/a (complaints about him were from before office)

Barack Obama

1. Altruism – 10% (benefit of the doubt)
2. Payoffs – 10%
3. Party Line – 10%
4. Power – 10%
5. Statues – 60% (thinks he is a living saint)
6. Money – 0% (benefit of the doubt)
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

George W Bush

1. Altruism – 40%
2. Payoffs – 10%
3. Party Line – 10%
4. Power – 30%
5. Statues – 10%
6. Money – 0%
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

Bill Clinton

1. Altruism – 30% (surprisingly, he actually did some positive things)
2. Payoffs – 5%
3. Party Line – 5%
4. Power – 20%
5. Statues – 5%
6. Money – 5%
7. Scoring with Women – 30% (this is also why he ran for Governor)

George HW Bush

1. Altruism – 40%
2. Payoffs – 10%
3. Party Line – 10%
4. Power – 30%
5. Statues – 10%
6. Money – 0%
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

Ronald Reagan

1. Altruism – 60%
2. Payoffs – 10%
3. Party Line –10%
4. Power – 10%
5. Statues – 10%
6. Money – 0%
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

Jimmy Carter

1. Altruism – 70% (tons of good intentions, just bad at it)
2. Payoffs – 0%
3. Party Line –10%
4. Power – 10%
5. Statues – 10%
6. Money – 0%
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

[Abbey Marie]

This is as scientific as anyone else’s “facts” these days.

I like your percentages. I would, though, push Bill’s “Scoring with Women” number up to around 75%. You can reduce other categories as you see fit.

[SassyLady]

I think you are way, way low on Biden's payoff.

[Black Diamond]

I think you are way, way low on Biden's payoff.

China?

[NightTrain]

Interesting post. I've never broken it down so far as that, but it's a good format.

Biden has wanted to be president for a long time - what, since '88, officially? I think that was just raw ambition back when he still had 2 brain cells to rub together, not for any real sense of what he wanted to accomplish. It was his intelligence that held him back, demonstrated with his inablility to put forth his own well-thought-out argument and thus, repeated cases of plagiarism. We've all had gaffes of jokes that didn't land or something that maybe wasn't appropriate, but this guy - even in his prime - has had an overwhelming urge to blurt things out as they occurred in his head and for making up preposterous stories in some weird kind of effort to connect with his audience.

These days, I think he vaguely remembered that he wanted to run for president and that was probably spurred by his wife pushing him to run. I think she's the real power broker here, because you can easily spot his shambling, mindless gait on the WH lawn as he's almost stumbling to Marine One, and the outright looks in the middle of a speech of complete confusion. The fact that he spends almost every weekend hidden away in his basement, won't take questions at his own pressers, mindlessly announces that "he'll get in trouble" for taking questions and discussing things spells out that we've got a Weekend At Bernie's situation.

I believe that right now, he has no idea what's going on and his Staff & Advisors & wife are running the show. These are all hardcore liberals with their own agendas, and they're trying to ram through all their pet projects (and probably on the take from lobbyists to make money while they can in this brief moment in time) and all they have to do is get him to read the teleprompter. And for God's sake, DON'T TAKE ANY QUESTIONS! It's pretty hard to guess what exactly the questions will be, and you can't forecast that into the teleprompter.



With Trump, I think you're pretty accurate. He was the proverbial Bull in the china shop that could not be controlled by either party, and that's why there was such an effort by both sides to take him down. While he was flawed, I look more toward actual results than what kind of personality he displayed. And by the results of what I want, he was absolutely the best president in my lifetime. I really like Reagan too, but I was just a kid when all that was going on.

Obama was a corrupt Chicago polititian, and he brought that with him to the WH. Looking back at what we know now, his corruption spread like wildfire throughout the various agencies and we're reaping that now. The FBI, IRS and CIA for sure were corrupted and used for his own nefarious agendas, and personally, I think the FBI as a very well respected agency will never regain public confidence. He used the presidency to fundamentally change and institute his own liberal agendas regardless as to if it was actually good for the country. He was able to pull this off with a sycophant press who shared his leftist views, prostituting themselves in the process and setting up the stage for an all-out assault on Trump who was 180° different in political views. All those 'Phone and Pen' runarounds skirting the law were quickly undone, and that was unforgivable in their eyes warranting the nonstop vicious assault Trump endured.

I supported Dubya at the time and I think he is genuinely a good man. His failure to defend himself was the on ramp to where we are today in politics, because his silence against stupid allegations only encouraged the liberal mob. He was correct in taking out Saddam and going into Afghanistan to get OBL, despite what the latest opinion is. He had to do both. My opinion of him has been greatly reduced these days because of his willingness to side with democrats. He just never really had much fight in him, and that's one of his greatest flaws. We'll never know what he could have brought to the table domestically, because he never had a chance to do that. He was a wartime president and that's where his focus was for all 8 years.

Clinton was a scumbag, and I think his primary motivation was always chasing skirt. He wanted to be the latest JFK banging Marilyn Monroe, and what better way than to be president? I also think that his successes were 100% due to a great GOP Congress that forced him to go along with their agenda. The Contract with America was a great success. And let's not forget that Ross Perot's miserable involvement is the only reason Clinton was elected in the first place.

And it was Clinton's lack of foresight that created China into the massive headache they are today. They'd still be a backwards hermit kingdom had it not been for his meddling over there and boosting them.

Bush the Elder was an okay president, but he shot himself in the foot with the legendary "Read my lips! No new taxes!" snafu. That tax increase after promising none, combined with Ross Perot, was the reason he lost reelection and we ended up with the plague of the Clintons.

Reagan was a rockstar all the way around. And his quick-thinking wit was legendary on stage. His vision and strategy to end the USSR was mastery defined. Yeah, the scandal of the Iran-Contra affair was kind of a sticky thing, but that was just another CIA operation that ran amok - hardly the first time such things came to light from their runaway spook ideas that spun out of control. But I was an Ollie North fan, and still am. They were commies and dangerous, and steps were taken.

Carter was a nincompoop. Inept all around. But I agree that he was genuinely a good guy, just way over his head and not the right kind of personality to lead this country in those trying times... foreign policy ate his lunch, along with inflation. If he'd have reigned in the EPA and got energy policy right, his presidency would have been transformed into at least a lackluster presidency instead of showing horribly all the way around. You need to be able to point to at least one success; and I can't think of one thing that was positive from his era.

[Gunny]

Interesting post. I've never broken it down so far as that, but it's a good format.

Biden has wanted to be president for a long time - what, since '88, officially? I think that was just raw ambition back when he still had 2 brain cells to rub together, not for any real sense of what he wanted to accomplish. It was his intelligence that held him back, demonstrated with his inablility to put forth his own well-thought-out argument and thus, repeated cases of plagiarism. We've all had gaffes of jokes that didn't land or something that maybe wasn't appropriate, but this guy - even in his prime - has had an overwhelming urge to blurt things out as they occurred in his head and for making up preposterous stories in some weird kind of effort to connect with his audience.

These days, I think he vaguely remembered that he wanted to run for president and that was probably spurred by his wife pushing him to run. I think she's the real power broker here, because you can easily spot his shambling, mindless gait on the WH lawn as he's almost stumbling to Marine One, and the outright looks in the middle of a speech of complete confusion. The fact that he spends almost every weekend hidden away in his basement, won't take questions at his own pressers, mindlessly announces that "he'll get in trouble" for taking questions and discussing things spells out that we've got a Weekend At Bernie's situation.

I believe that right now, he has no idea what's going on and his Staff & Advisors & wife are running the show. These are all hardcore liberals with their own agendas, and they're trying to ram through all their pet projects (and probably on the take from lobbyists to make money while they can in this brief moment in time) and all they have to do is get him to read the teleprompter. And for God's sake, DON'T TAKE ANY QUESTIONS! It's pretty hard to guess what exactly the questions will be, and you can't forecast that into the teleprompter.



With Trump, I think you're pretty accurate. He was the proverbial Bull in the china shop that could not be controlled by either party, and that's why there was such an effort by both sides to take him down. While he was flawed, I look more toward actual results than what kind of personality he displayed. And by the results of what I want, he was absolutely the best president in my lifetime. I really like Reagan too, but I was just a kid when all that was going on.

Obama was a corrupt Chicago polititian, and he brought that with him to the WH. Looking back at what we know now, his corruption spread like wildfire throughout the various agencies and we're reaping that now. The FBI, IRS and CIA for sure were corrupted and used for his own nefarious agendas, and personally, I think the FBI as a very well respected agency will never regain public confidence. He used the presidency to fundamentally change and institute his own liberal agendas regardless as to if it was actually good for the country. He was able to pull this off with a sycophant press who shared his leftist views, prostituting themselves in the process and setting up the stage for an all-out assault on Trump who was 180° different in political views. All those 'Phone and Pen' runarounds skirting the law were quickly undone, and that was unforgivable in their eyes warranting the nonstop vicious assault Trump endured.

I supported Dubya at the time and I think he is genuinely a good man. His failure to defend himself was the on ramp to where we are today in politics, because his silence against stupid allegations only encouraged the liberal mob. He was correct in taking out Saddam and going into Afghanistan to get OBL, despite what the latest opinion is. He had to do both. My opinion of him has been greatly reduced these days because of his willingness to side with democrats. He just never really had much fight in him, and that's one of his greatest flaws. We'll never know what he could have brought to the table domestically, because he never had a chance to do that. He was a wartime president and that's where his focus was for all 8 years.

Clinton was a scumbag, and I think his primary motivation was always chasing skirt. He wanted to be the latest JFK banging Marilyn Monroe, and what better way than to be president? I also think that his successes were 100% due to a great GOP Congress that forced him to go along with their agenda. The Contract with America was a great success. And let's not forget that Ross Perot's miserable involvement is the only reason Clinton was elected in the first place.

And it was Clinton's lack of foresight that created China into the massive headache they are today. They'd still be a backwards hermit kingdom had it not been for his meddling over there and boosting them.

Bush the Elder was an okay president, but he shot himself in the foot with the legendary "Read my lips! No new taxes!" snafu. That tax increase after promising none, combined with Ross Perot, was the reason he lost reelection and we ended up with the plague of the Clintons.

Reagan was a rockstar all the way around. And his quick-thinking wit was legendary on stage. His vision and strategy to end the USSR was mastery defined. Yeah, the scandal of the Iran-Contra affair was kind of a sticky thing, but that was just another CIA operation that ran amok - hardly the first time such things came to light from their runaway spook ideas that spun out of control. But I was an Ollie North fan, and still am. They were commies and dangerous, and steps were taken.

Carter was a nincompoop. Inept all around. But I agree that he was genuinely a good guy, just way over his head and not the right kind of personality to lead this country in those trying times... foreign policy ate his lunch, along with inflation. If he'd have reigned in the EPA and got energy policy right, his presidency would have been transformed into at least a lackluster presidency instead of showing horribly all the way around. You need to be able to point to at least one success; and I can't think of one thing that was positive from his era.

I could comment on most of your comments. Especially the ones you were too young for, pup. But this is too much. For me anyway.

GHWB was forced by a dem Congress into signing the tax hike much the way the Dems are playing with the debt ceiling and budget now. He let us/our Generals win our war. The only clear victory we've had since WWII.

Carter was what he was. However, I think only Nixon did more to weaponize the EPA. Our economy then was a direct result of his energy policies. Deja vu: it was the left's "we're going to run out of fossil fuels by the end of the 70s" chicken little story as opposed to the "climate change" chicken little story now that drove his and Nixon's train.

Iran-Contra was a Democrat contrived event to try and lynch Reagan, and swing public approval their way; which, it did, resulting in a Dem Congress.

China started with Nixon, not Clinton. Yes, Hitlery pissed me the f- off making a "state visit" to China. As I said then: Who the f- elected her to do anything? Nixon should never paid a second's attention to the PRC.

In perspective, while few in between have done anything to right the ship, most of our current woes can be traced right back to Tricky Dick. If you look at the policies he implemented, he'd have to run as a Democrat today.

[NightTrain]

GHWB was forced by a dem Congress into signing the tax hike much the way the Dems are playing with the debt ceiling and budget now. He let us/our Generals win our war. The only clear victory we've had since WWII.

If he'd have stuck to his word about no new taxes, he'd have been reelected. His advisors talked him into it, saying that he'd be able to skate... but then Ross Perot happened.

Agree about Gulf I, but he should have finished the job. I know, I know... that wasn't the stated goal, but we were over there anyway, had the manpower and logistics all set up. You finish a madman, not allow him to regroup and rebuild. So after the initial funzies were over, we should have gone it alone if needed - but I think more than a few of our allies would have joined us, if not the arabs. Kicking the can when there's a madman opposing us always brings more heartache in the future.

That was weak, IMHO.

Carter was what he was. However, I think only Nixon did more to weaponize the EPA. Our economy then was a direct result of his energy policies. Deja vu: it was the left's "we're going to run out of fossil fuels by the end of the 70s" chicken little story as opposed to the "climate change" chicken little story now that drove his and Nixon's train.

Well, Nixon created that damned agency. I have no love for Nixon on any level. He was a crook and got what he deserved. Screw him.

Iran-Contra was a Democrat contrived event to try and lynch Reagan, and swing public approval their way; which, it did, resulting in a Dem Congress.

China started with Nixon, not Clinton. Yes, Hitlery pissed me the f- off making a "state visit" to China. As I said then: Who the f- elected her to do anything? Nixon should never paid a second's attention to the PRC.

Eh.... well, Nixon certainly did get the ball rolling. But it was Clinton who began trying to engage them and help them in international trade and launched them into the menace that they are today. I'm sure that creating another world superpower that bordered the USSR was a factor in their thinking at the time and that once the commies got a taste of prosperous capitalism they'd change... but deliberately helping Commies was a Real Bad Move. Rich Commies only tighten their grip around the necks of their peasants - only a complete collapse seems to be the way out from under the boots of Commies.

In perspective, while few in between have done anything to right the ship, most of our current woes can be traced right back to Tricky Dick. If you look at the policies he implemented, he'd have to run as a Democrat today.

Won't hurt my feelings to have Nixon get his own Let's Go Brandon chant. And Clinton can fuck right off, too, while we're at it.

[Gunny]

If he'd have stuck to his word about no new taxes, he'd have been reelected. His advisors talked him into it, saying that he'd be able to skate... but then Ross Perot happened.

Agree about Gulf I, but he should have finished the job. I know, I know... that wasn't the stated goal, but we were over there anyway, had the manpower and logistics all set up. You finish a madman, not allow him to regroup and rebuild. So after the initial funzies were over, we should have gone it alone if needed - but I think more than a few of our allies would have joined us, if not the arabs. Kicking the can when there's a madman opposing us always brings more heartache in the future.

That was weak, IMHO.




Well, Nixon created that damned agency. I have no love for Nixon on any level. He was a crook and got what he deserved. Screw him.



Eh.... well, Nixon certainly did get the ball rolling. But it was Clinton who began trying to engage them and help them in international trade and launched them into the menace that they are today. I'm sure that creating another world superpower that bordered the USSR was a factor in their thinking at the time and that once the commies got a taste of prosperous capitalism they'd change... but deliberately helping Commies was a Real Bad Move. Rich Commies only tighten their grip around the necks of their peasants - only a complete collapse seems to be the way out from under the boots of Commies.



Won't hurt my feelings to have Nixon get his own Let's Go Brandon chant. And Clinton can fuck right off, too, while we're at it.

I will address Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm/The First Gulf War in a separate thread. All due respects, I disagree and since that was "MY" war (and one fo abouttime's), I take a vested interest in keeping the record straight.

I wasn't giving Clinton any kind of pass on anything. I was stuck with his mismanagement of both the country and the military for 8 years. The only thing I give Bill a pass on is screwing around on Hillary. That's one man I find it really hard to blame for marital infidelity. Yuck. Imagine waking up every morning to the Hidabeast His going on tv and explaining (lying) about what he considered "sexual relations" was absurd.

He followed the tax raising forced on GHWB by Dems with a pile on "luxury" tax. That meant a tax on everything but bread and water, basically. He involved us in a civil war in Central Europe in which had no stake. The importance of that to me that you may not get is he put US forces under the command of the UN and member nation commanders. Fuck THAT. Nothing in my contract says I serve anything but the Constitution of the US and the US military. They never got me or I'd have told them what they could do with their baby blue helmet. That was going to be my "LtCol Scheller moment".

Meantime, in increased our operational tempo (places to be and when) while cutting our numbers. Everyone still in had to suck up everyone's that got put out to save the Dems a few bucks to waste on their BS jobs.

His fat, ugly beast wife was constantly meddling in everything she could. Don't recall anyone voting for her.

When I made my little pro's n con's checklist on retirement, his affect on the military was at the top or close to reasons "why".

Ross Perot didn't cost GHWB the Presidency in 92. He got as many Dem votes as he did Republican ones. Republicans just didn't show up, as they are infamous for doing if everything not peachy keen with them. See Donald Trump and 2020 for more on that.

GHWB lost mostly because he got stuck with Ronald Reagan's bill and the Dems were damned sure making sure everyone knew the bill was there. Reagan spent the USSR into bankruptcy. He also pulled us out of the 70s doldrums. Brilliant. I have zero problem with it. I liked Reagan. But there was a bill to be paid.

GHWB almost wasn't there as far as campaigning for reelection goes. I didn't understand it then anymore than I understood Trump half-assing it. Both thinking they were a shoe in.

Meanwhile, one thing Bill Clinton did have is a personality. Our politics are not based on qualifications. Clinton won for the same reason Obama did. They appealed to the cult of personality.

Nixon was a socialist. His ending the Vietnam War didn't play out much better than Biden's leaving Afghanistan. He doubled, at least, the size of the government and its alphabet agencies. He spied on Americans. He's the one that implemented the 55 mph speed limit. You ain't done shit until you've traveled cross country under that.

Agree on Obama. Just a crooked Chicago politician.

I like Jimmy Carter. It would be a much better World if he could have projected his utopian idealism onto it. Ideals are what they are -- not reality. I've done work for his Habitats for Humanity on my own time. I thought it was the right thing to do and he paid for it. Ideals Not to be confused with reality.

[tailfins]

What do you think the personal motivation are of Joe Biden as he tries and fails to be an effective President of the United States? I’ve gone to the trouble of researching this by, well, just consulting my own personal opinion, which seems to be how reporting works these days. I’ve also done the same with the preceding Presidents, back to Carter.

Motivations are broken down scientifically into 5 categories: 1) Altruism - Doing what’s best for the country 2) Payoffs - Pushing the interests of interest groups that made political donations 3) Party Line - pushing the general interests of your political party 4) Power – Love of having political clout 5) History and Statues – thinking you can do things that will result in statues of yourself in the future 6) Money – Getting under-the-table money from PACs, China, Ukraine, bribes, selling pardons, and selling bogus art, and 7) Scoring with Women – NOTE – this category was added specifically for Bill Clinton.

Here are the scientific results:

Joe Biden

1. Altruism – Hahahahah, no really, 0%
2. Payoffs – 5% (Teacher union, etc)
3. Party Line – 5%
4. Power – 5%
5. Statues – 70% (he really thought he would be FDR II)
6. Money – 15% (Joe’s got bills to pay)
7. Scoring with Women – n/a

Regarding #7, Don't you think the hair sniffing opportunities got his attention?

[Gunny]

Regarding #7, Don't you think the hair sniffing opportunities got his attention?

Apparently he never scored