• acargitz
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    5 hours 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        34 hours 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.

      • @CaptPretentious
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        24 hours 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.

    • @[email protected]
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      95 hours 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        -14 hours 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?

        • @[email protected]
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          53 hours ago

          Fr, like look into the companies that get you your fruits and vegetables. You can’t escape unethical consumption.

        • Dessalines
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          4 hours ago

          Washington was the richest man in the US at the time, and had the most to gain from indigenous eviction. The Iroquios named him “the town destroyer”, for burning down dozens of their cities. He also owned slaves and supported the institution just like most presidents after him (I think 10 presidents in a row were southern slave-holders like himself).

          And also, its the US, not China, that has slave labor camps. Just because an anti-semitic evangelical christian (adrian zenz) who works for the US government claims that China has forced labor, doesn’t make it so. These claims have been debunked over and over.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 hour ago

            No, China has forced labor camps.

            The US has prison work camps, but most prisoners don’t have to work if they dont want to, it isn’t forced.

          • acargitz
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            -13 hours ago

            And also, its the US, not China, that has slave labor camps. Just because an anti-semitic evangelical christian (adrian zenz) who works for the US government claims that China has forced labor, doesn’t make it so. These claims have been debunked over and over.

            China has forced labour, according the the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences: https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/51/26

      • acargitz
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        5 hours 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 Frederic the Great in the list, which tells you exactly what my understanding of the challenge was.

    • Cowbee [he/they]
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      34 hours ago

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

    • @jacksilver
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      45 hours 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
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        44 hours 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.

      • @[email protected]
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        03 hours 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
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          02 hours 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.