Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, America has had five Presidents:

41. George H.W. Bush (1989-1993), R-TX
42. Mario Cuomo (1993-2001), D-NY
43. Al Gore (2001-2005), D-TN
44. John McCain (2005-2013), R-AZ
45. Barack Obama (Since 2013), D-IL

In your opinion, which one was the best and why?
 
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, America has had five Presidents:

41. George H.W. Bush (1989-1993), R-TX
42. Mario Cuomo (1993-2001), D-NY
43. Al Gore (2001-2005), D-TN
44. John McCain (2005-2013), R-AZ
45. Barack Obama (Since 2013), D-IL

In your opinion, which one was the best and why?

@TheAllTimeGreatest what do you think?
 
John McCain dealt with the height of the Afghanistan War after it was launched after 9/11. Many felt like he handled it a lot better than Gore. Even though the recession towards the end of his first term and beginning of his second term hindered him, he was still able to work with a Democratic House and get that unemployment down from its high of 9.1% to 4.8% by the end of his presidency.

Cuomo was known for passing gun control legislation and comprehensive healthcare reform in the late 90’s. His green energy initiatives also helped us combat climate change. Both Gore and McCain helped to advance it in their respective terms.
 
John McCain dealt with the height of the Afghanistan War after it was launched after 9/11. Many felt like he handled it a lot better than Gore. Even though the recession towards the end of his first term and beginning of his second term hindered him, he was still able to work with a Democratic House and get that unemployment down from its high of 9.1% to 4.8% by the end of his presidency.

Cuomo was known for passing gun control legislation and comprehensive healthcare reform in the late 90’s. His green energy initiatives also helped us combat climate change. Both Gore and McCain helped to advance it in their respective terms.

True. Though the conservative blowback against Cuomo's policies was pretty strong during his second term and in Gore's term.

Does anyone else think that Gore was basically the Democratic George Bush? By that I mean he got a lot done, especially in foreign policy, but he could never quite stand up to his more charismatic predecessor.
 
True. Though the conservative blowback against Cuomo's policies was pretty strong during his second term and in Gore's term.

Does anyone else think that Gore was basically the Democratic George Bush? By that I mean he got a lot done, especially in foreign policy, but he could never quite stand up to his more charismatic predecessor.

Admittedly, that is true. Conservatives began rallying around more when they knew they might get beaten by Gore.

Gore, in my opinion, was just not charismatic at all. When stacked against Cuomo, anyone would’ve been seen as the less charismatic, but Gore was something else. He wasn’t that good a campaigner, and just got lucky running on Cuomo’s record.
 
Admittedly, that is true. Conservatives began rallying around more when they knew they might get beaten by Gore.

Gore, in my opinion, was just not charismatic at all. When stacked against Cuomo, anyone would’ve been seen as the less charismatic, but Gore was something else. He wasn’t that good a campaigner, and just got lucky running on Cuomo’s record.

Yeah, if McCain had been the nominee in 2000 he'd have beaten Gore. Whatever happened to George W. Bush after he lost?
 
Yeah, if McCain had been the nominee in 2000 he'd have beaten Gore. Whatever happened to George W. Bush after he lost?

He was elected to the Senate in 2002 after his eight years as Governor, and he’s still there today. Lot of people of Capitol Hill says he’s a genuine, stand-up guy.
 
He was elected to the Senate in 2002 after his eight years as Governor, and he’s still there today. Lot of people of Capitol Hill says he’s a genuine, stand-up guy.

He's been a leading voice for bipartisanship in Washington. Would Obama's Immigration Reform Bill have passed in 2013 without his support?
 
He's been a leading voice for bipartisanship in Washington. Would Obama's Immigration Reform Bill have passed in 2013 without his support?

Probably not. He was the leading Republican voice that convinced a lot of them to support it. He was also able to convince Obama to continue some of John McCain’s policies when the President previously thought of scrapping them.
 
Cuomo was known for passing gun control legislation and comprehensive healthcare reform in the late 90’s. His green energy initiatives also helped us combat climate change. Both Gore and McCain helped to advance it in their respective terms.

Yes, Mariocare of 1996 (as his opponents labelled it but the name stuck; sounds like Super Mario during one of those late 90s attaque ads) was able to lay America's furture healthcare reform foundations when it issued guidelines for private healthcare insurance agencies to follow. Mariocare of the mid 1990s prevented private healthcare insurance from denying people of their coverage due to pre-existing conditions and allowed children to be covered under their parent's insurance until the age of 28. It abolished annual and lifetime caps, standardised premiums regardless of age and conditions amongst private insurance, and provided strict regulations on private co-payments, deductibles, and employer insurance.

A reform package in 1999 also included a ban on co-payments and deductibles for private coverages such as terminal cancer, long-term care, HIV/AIDS, and a whole lot of things.

Gore was able to ride the post-9/11 rally around the flag thing in 2002 and built on that initiative by lowering the age to recieve Medicare public insurance from age 65 down to age 50. Gorecare also expanded Medicaid coverage to everyone below the federal poverty line regardless of marriage status, child status, age, etc.

The post-Great Recession rally for Obama in 2013 also saw him implement the American Healthcare Act of 2013 or Obamacare which furthered lowered the age of Medicare coverage from 50 down to 40 and increased Medicaid coverage to anyone earning under 150% of the federal poverty line. It wasn't truly a Medicare for all initiative due to a number of compromises he had to make and the 2014 midterms really killed his chances for further reforms, but the expansion of public healthcare in the United States allowed for further visionaries to implement Medicare for all some time in the future. In fact, it's becoming very likely in the 2020s due to the gradual pace of healthcare reform. Who knows ?

Republicans are looking for some compromise against Democratic attempts for further expansion. Some are looking for essentially mandating a savings account for every earning American for a percentage of their pay-cheque that would be strictly used for healthcare whilst the government subsidise those who earn less than 150% of the federal poverty line. If unemployed, some sort of Medicaid coverage would work. A mandated savings account for healthcare, as the Republicans stated, promotes personal responsibility of one's health.

In any case, do any of y'all support Republican attempts for mandated savings accounts instead or Democratic attempts for further Medicare expansion ?
 
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In any case, do any of y'all support Republican attempts for mandated savings accounts instead or Democratic atte

I think further Medicare expansion is pretty much inevitable at this point. It's also consistently more popular.

Does anyone think Obama's VP, Tim Kaine, can win in 2020? That will impact the future of Medicare.
 
I think further Medicare expansion is pretty much inevitable at this point. It's also consistently more popular.

Does anyone think Obama's VP, Tim Kaine, can win in 2020? That will impact the future of Medicare.
I dunno. Kaine's weak leading of the senate got a lot of the blame in moderate circles for the inefficiency of the later Obama term. Hell, the early primaries actually show that Kermit Roosevelt (III) is actually the most popular primary candidate by far. And honestly, who's surprised? He's running on extending healthcare to anyone who doesn't make a living wage (and an additional 5k), election reform that's been hot button since Bush almost won by denying the Florida recount, and by helping stabilize mexico. Oh, and he's from the family that gave us our most bipartsan popular presidents since the founding fathers.
 
I think further Medicare expansion is pretty much inevitable at this point. It's also consistently more popular.

Does anyone think Obama's VP, Tim Kaine, can win in 2020? That will impact the future of Medicare.

Maybe.

Al Gore had that 9/11 rally around the flag effect to push healthcare reforms (as I stated above) as well as some environmental initiatives such as the Kyoto 2,0 Protocols

Obama recieve initial support when everybody back in 2013 blamed the current Republicans for the recession or at least the lackluster recovery (euh, the stimulus package debacle was rather brimmed with Occupy protests and controversies in Congress over compromises), creating a similar rally around Obama for like the first 2 years of his term.

Kaine will have none of the political capital accumulated from these circumstances. And with a Republican Congress, I'm not sure if he can get anything done assuming if he can even win in the 2020 elections
 
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Speaking of the recession . . . my goodness that was a whole spectacular moment. The Lehman brothers collapsed. And the auto-bailout was tremendously controversial. Things got delayed so bad. Democrats railed him and when they got control of Congress back in 2008, John McCain was only able to compromise when the government bought out 60% of Chrysler's shares (and thus took on its debt) in order to prevent Chrysler from collapsing as well.

At least Chrysler was saved by being converted into a state-owned enterprise.

Now that the economy's recovered somewhat, Republicans want to re-privatise Chrysler and possibly Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well. I wonder if a future President Tim Kaine can use this as leverage and compromise by exchanging the re-privatisation of these companies with Medicare for all ?
 
Maybe.

Al Gore had that 9/11 rally around the flag effect to push healthcare reforms (as I stated above) as well as some environmental initiatives such as the Kyoto 2,0 Protocols

Obama recieve initial support when everybody back in 2013 blamed the current Republicans for the recession or at least the lackluster recovery (euh, the stimulus package debacle was rather brimmed with Occupy protests and controversies in Congress over compromises), creating a similar rally around Obama for like the first 2 years of his term.

Kaine will have none of the political capital accumulated from these circumstances. And with a Republican Congress, I'm not sure if he can get anything done assuming if he can even win in the 2020 elections

Yeah, and Kaine isn't exactly known for his charisma. Florida Governor Marco Rubio might have a shot at the presidency if he's the 2020 Republican nominee.
 
I dunno. Kaine's weak leading of the senate got a lot of the blame in moderate circles for the inefficiency of the later Obama term. Hell, the early primaries actually show that Kermit Roosevelt (III) is actually the most popular primary candidate by far. And honestly, who's surprised? He's running on extending healthcare to anyone who doesn't make a living wage (and an additional 5k), election reform that's been hot button since Bush almost won by denying the Florida recount, and by helping stabilize mexico. Oh, and he's from the family that gave us our most bipartsan popular presidents since the founding fathers.

Well, Kaine has the establishment behind him. Though I think Roosevelt could win.
 
I got a feeling Marco Rubio can definitely pull it off. He’s the front runner right now and it’s hard not to see why: telegenic, Hispanic, son of immigrants. He’s got it all.
 
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