Has there ever been this much hate for a US president before?

Question

it seems like there is SO much opposition to Bush, I was too young to tell, but was it anywhere near like this when Clinton or Bush Sr was president?

Answer 1

Yes the repuke's trashed Clinton for his whole term in office. All the time he was balancing the budget and paying down the debt. That has how I got my start here. I saw a chance to really belt on Bush. I seized the moment.

Answer 2

Carter, I think was worse. It really brought down the American people. Of course unemployment was terrible, inflation was terrible, gas prices was terrible (even worse than now if you consider what a dollar will buy), and Iran had a bunch of American hostages for 444 days.

Imagine that you can’t find a job and if you do find a job you don’t earn enough money to pay for anything but junk, plus you feel that a third rate nation of college students are holding Americans and your are helpless. Then every evening they would march these hostages across the TV screen with blindfolds.

Have you heard of the show Nightline? That is when it was started… during the Iran hostage crisis and each evening they would say something like, “Day 212.” Then report that nothing was done and Carter was still negotiating with the terrorists.

The day Reagan was elected is the day they release the hostages because he was going into Iran with full force and destroy the entire country, including hostages, if necessary. He understood Iran only understood strength. Overnight everyone’s confidence was back and American flags were being flown again. During Carters presidency people were too ashamed to fly the flag or be proud of America. Which btw, this will happen again if we Cut & Run.

No, Clinton wasn't bad... Bush Sr. wasn't bad at all.

Nixon was terrible but that happened so fast it wasn't as noticeable. He also pulled us out of Vietnam.

Much of Bush's hate is due to what he liberals saw as unfair to Clinton. They thought it was a sexual thing and the other side thought it was lying under oath like Nixon did. Too much was made out of Clinton's lie, in my opinion.

Answer 3

I'd say no - but it's very hard to quantify that kind of stuff. What I would say: this is often framed as a liberal vs conservative debate. Objecting to Nixon, or Reagan - that was objecting to conservatism. The nature of liberal vs conservative debate is that you want the same things, be it education, healthcare etc - but disagree on the 'how' of getting there.

In the case of this administration it runs much deeper than liberval vs conservative. It's about incompetancy, and croneyism and nepotism. There's a large percentage of the electorate, and an even larger population of the outside world, that almost feel as if this administration is an april fools joke. That we'll wake up any minute and it'll be a dream. Just utter astonishment that they're actually in power and able to continue governing with such woeful incompetancy and lack of accountability, assigning high level positions accross the board to completely unqualified friends, openly giving out corporate backhanders, all of it. That stuff happened before, but it was never as widespread, and most importantly, previous administrations felt the need to hide it. This one doesn't even bother, its like the public doesn't care and/or doesn't see it because they're hypnotised by a few soundbites repeated ad nauseum. For those who are outraged by this administration, its that perceived apathy or blindness that gets us more angry than in the past - that its right there in front of us, in the open, but we're letting it happen.

Answer 4

He is so hated because he stands up for what he believes in and that really pees the liberals off. swweeeeeeettt oh, and by the way Clinton and Carter were both horrible presidents but they were not hated because Carter was really a good person. He had all the wrong ideas but he meant well. Clinton didn't evoke as much hate in spite of his ineptness and lack of ethical character because he lead by using polls to see which side of the isle he should sit on this week. He stood for nothing unless it seemed to be popular at the moment. Being a real leader can sometimes be a tough job. If you ever get into a leadership position you'll see what I mean.

Answer 5

Never. Nixon looks like a saint next to Dubya. And Clinton? Come on! The only people who hated him were the Rush Limbaugh set--you know, call Bill's daughter the family dog on your syndicated programme, that sort of thing. Nice stuff.

Pancakes, you are way off on Carter. He deserves much more respect than he's getting.

Answer 6

In my memory, which goes back to Carter, I've never seen (or felt) so much opposition to the sitting president. Even with the Iran/Contra affair, the sex scandals etc., I think GW Bush has them all beat. First of all, he came into power without a majority of the country behind him, and 2nd of all, while others have lied, he's lied more often, about more important things... People who may have trusted government before have forgotten how... It's sad, really!

Answer 7

yes there has, but in a different way, no one liked nixon after his first term, but that was way back. i think the discontent is because this same scenario has happened time after time and no one has learned. we are not as stupid as the government thinks. this war has to do with oil, bush is an oil man. alltho the gasoline engine has been obsolete for many years, the push for oil consumption has continued. theres been alot of alternative energy plans, but bush has made sure that there was an attachment for oil connected to it. 5 years ago i went to work for a company that built blades for wind generators. this was the 1st bush election. the ceo told us that a vote for bush was a vote against wind energy and he was right. theres alot of lives being lost overseas for a product that should have been eliminated or minimized years ago. thats why the hate.

Answer 8

With political divisions this high, yes. George W. Bush is the most-hated President right now. You know his ill-timed and problematic policies and the opposition it generated here at home and around the world! Now you have your answer.

Answer 9

Never before have I heard more people on the street hating this guy. And now he has isolated us and has caused us to lose allies all over the world. Nixon came close but at least he was the best foreign diplomatic president ever. In the future it will be interesting to see how the history books potray him. But you must understand to read it upside down in his honor.

Answer 10

The last time I remember this much hate for a US president was for Richard Nixon, after the details of the Watergate scandal came out and he had to resign to avoid being impeached.