• acargitz@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    I dunno Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter, seem to have been personally good people. That’s two recent US presidents. Then I guess I would add some super low hanging fruit like Nelson Mandela, Frederick the Great, John II Komnenos, any of the Five Good Emperors, Cyrus the Great, Ashoka, and one could keep going.

    EDIT: To all those pestering me about how US presidents presided over criminal imperialist policies, here is my answer from down below:

    OP talked about “glaring character defects”.

    These are policy failures and state crimes, arguably attributed to the American state as a whole, and the long term US imperialist policies, rather to the singular person of the president.

    You might have noticed that I added Frederick the Great in the list, which tells you exactly what my understanding of the challenge was.

    I’m not here to defend US imperialism, don’t @ me.

      • Zerush@lemmy.ml
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        3 days ago

        Without the US, the world would be much more peaceful today, most of the current wars and terrorisms are caused by US interventions, directly and indirectly.

        • RowRowRowYourBot@sh.itjust.works
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          3 days ago

          That’s a claim I would LOVE for you to attempt to back up.

          Just off the top of my head I would suspect UK, French, and Soviet imperialism to have been as big if not a bigger factor than the USA.

      • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        That is an incredible list. Did a find for a few things I personally knew about and have always been disappointed in Obama for… and sure enough found them. First one I searched, was extending the Bush tax cuts on the rich. I remember Bill O’Reilly saying “Oh, if I have to pay taxes, I’m going to have to fire people, and that’s on Obama, so tax cuts means less jobs!” (so glad Bill got canned) and Obama just fucking caved like a spineless coward.

    • Packet@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Obama?? Obama??? The Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya Obama? You must be joking, right?

      • acargitz@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        OP talked about “glaring character defects”.

        These are policy failures and state crimes, arguably attributed to the American state as a whole, and the long term US imperialist policies, rather to the singular person of the president.

        You might have noticed that I added Frederick the Great in the list, which tells you exactly what my understanding of the challenge was.

    • Cowbee [he/they]@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      Carter supported Pol Pot and Obama was a monster to people in the Middle East, neither can be considered to be “good people.”

    • AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Obama lied to the left to gain power, that’s enough to disqualify him right there.

      Also Washington was the greatest president in our history because he willingly let go of his power. He could have been a king but he chose to step down instead to set future precedent.

      • Wilco@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        Yes! Buying dentures made from slave teeth is overshadowed by the fact this man did what very few would have done by setting power aside.

        Would we get labeled by history as evil because we might have bought a product from China made in a work camp?

    • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I mean we absolutely could call out their flaws too, someone with that much power/responsibility is going to do abhorrent things (drone strikes with Obama being an easy one to bring up). Just like the four on Mount Rushmore these things aren’t what we typically call out because they either were “of the times” or not on the same scale as their accomplishments.

      • Stern@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        They called Obama the Deporter in Chief. Trump wishes he could get a nickname like that. Carter himself was a nice guy but his below average presidency led to Reagan.

      • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net
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        3 days ago

        The drone strikes thing is a bad example. If he didn’t touch it, individual combat units could use drones with impunity. He required drone strikes to be approved by his office.

        Tell me if you had the choice between sending in boots to kill a guy, or drone strike, would you really ever risk your guys getting shot?

        He added red tape, the minimum thing he could do. I’ll agree with criticism that he did the bare minimum, but all these comments about this frame it like he was horny for drones. That’s reductive and misleading.

        • jacksilver@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          Your comment is exactly the point I was trying to make. The world is complex and imperfect, so anyone with the power/responsibility of a president is going to do controversial things.

          • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net
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            2 days ago

            Oh I get it.

            Yeah running countries is a series of shitty compromises, unless you are small enough to gain consensus.