bendog
Diamond Member
It seems to me that Reagan, HW and W were all fundamentally decent men. They treated their families well. Were admired by those whom they worked with. All could be ruthless. There was a Nixon quote to Kissinger about Reagan along the lines of "isn't he a little simple." And Kissinger replied that he seemed a good man. LOL Of course they all made mistakes.Someone once said, "Why do you call me good? Only God is good".Obama was no example of great leadership, though he is certainly a good person.
Off topic, but why do you think he is a good person? Because he's not Trump?
We use good as a common term and it is, of course, relative to how the speaker uses it, intends it.
As a family man who provides well for his family and who has succeeded in life despite many obstacles, he looks above average, a 'good' person.
Not having voted for him, and disagreeing fundamentally with the current U.S. political process, I have nothing to say here about his political performance. That would, additionally, be off topic.
Getting this post back on topic, the former President's efforts that led to an agreement was still a big step forward at the time in regards to America having contact with and exchanging ideas with Iran.
America's allies believed this was America's policy, they believed America. They now see this development as evidence that belief was misplaced. That is a fact, and that fact does not contribute to America's situation globally.
Clinton is a sex addict, and he and Hillary are addicted to power - to being at the center of changing things. But their goal was to improve things.
Obama is an elitist and liberal .... Obamacare is a testament to govt mandating protections. W relaxed water pollutant standards. Would Flint have occurred? Would the financial meltdowns have occurred without deregulation. A president isn't a "bad person" just because something bad comes out of good intentions that people supported. A president isn't a "bad person" because he's liberal elitist or not so conservative who had substance abuse issues when he should have been getting life experience.
And people are of their times. Reagan used the N word, but he wasn't a racist. JFK was in the era of mad men.
Trump is a narcissist. Dangerous stuff. But he's not crazy. The Rel Right isn't crazy for supporting him. I don't know that I'd call him a good man. He more or less ignored his kids. Until he was 70 his main goal was making money and being on TV. The natl good was not something on his radar. But he's potus. He probably does think we defend other countries and shouldn't.
Putin is evil. He wants to reestablish the Russian empire. People wouldn't have protections from the State or the right to self determination. To Putin, the right of Ukranians to form their own govt is subservient to the needs of Russia. Xi doesn't appear to want to take over countries. But civil liberties and the right to be governed by consent are not big on his agenda.