Who is/was the most talented politician today and in history?

13 comments

1. Senator Robert Byrd had an “interesting” history and is regarded as one of the best of the modern era. His mastery of senate procedures and obscure rules was unmatched.

2. Benjamin Franklin. Franklin had a talent for building consensus and bridging differences among diverse groups. His pragmatic approach to problem-solving and his ability to find common ground made him an effective leader and negotiator.

   Countless examples of where he was able to convince people to align with his ideas. He was very effective in representing colonial interests in London until the Hutchinson Letters.

   He was key in discussions in the Continental Congress. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence and contributed to the development of the U.S. Constitution. His ideas about government and democracy have had a lasting impact on the country. His experience in London likely set his mind on independence earlier than others.

   He was absolutely central in our negotiations with the French. He used his intelligence and charm to drive influence with the royal court. Franklin’s diplomacy led to the signing of the Treaty of Alliance and the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France in 1778. These treaties provided the United States with much-needed financial and military support during the war.

   Franklin was a key figure in the negotiations that led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which officially ended the Revolutionary War and recognized the United States as an independent nation.

   And then again at the Constitutional Convention. He played a key role in the development of the Connecticut Compromise. We wouldn’t be a country without this compromise. And he also argued for our systems of checks and balances.

3. Depends on what you mean by “politician.” Someone good at governing? Or someone good at getting the public to vote for them? Because those are two different skill sets.

   Bill Clinton, excellent at governing, but never got a majority of American voters to vote for him. Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon? Less good at governing, but received the biggest blowout elections in history (electoral college and popular vote, respectively). Those are just some examples from recent-ish history, but I’d have to figure out what you mean, first.

4. In my lifetime, Bill Clinton wins this easily. He was/is a master politician.

5. Robert Moses was definitely up there

6. LBJ.

   Others may have achieved greater things (FDR), or been more personable (Clinton), or been the first non-White president (Obama), or been more persistent for longer (John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Joe Biden), but LBJ was a master of the arts (light and dark) of getting politics done. Some things he did would not work today, yet other things a politician can do today would not work then. He was a master in his place and time.

   He reformed immigration law, enabled higher education funding, and passed the Civil Rights Acts and the Voting Rights Act against opposition as stiff as any opposition a US Democrat has faced in the 21st century, using his political skills.

   Lyndon Baines Johnson was the greatest US politician of any modern time.

7. Henry Clay should get a mention. He was never president, but he was very skilled at navigating the divide between the north and south states and finding compromise. His compromises may have only been putting a band aid on the problem, but they still took a lot of skill to get through.

8. The definition of power is the capacity to influence outcomes; and if politics is the exercise of power?

   FDR, LBJ, and Lincoln. No contest.

9. In terms of running circles around nearly equally powerful opponents Mitch McConnell, Richard Nixon, and Newt Gingrich have to be mentioned. Gingrich ended 62 years of Democratic domination of congress and repealed large swaths of new-deal/great-society legislation in only 5 years. McConnell effectively neutered the Dems largest mandate since 1964.

   Nixon deserves special recognition. His career was practically ended several times throughout the 50s and 60s (Eisenhower admin blamed him for most of their shortcomings including McCarthyism, lost a presidential race narrowly, and he would lose a Governor race for his home state in 62) but that motherfucker was unkillable. He would go on to get most of his platform enacted despite not controlling either body of Congress.

   The big three of antebellum politics were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C Calhoun. Andrew Jackson’s presidentially was groundbreaking in many ways as well.

   In terms of not squandering massive majorities Sam Rayburn and FDR are pretty untouchable.

   Lyndon Johnson deserves special recognition as well. Nearly half of his party was in the Conservative Coalition and staunchly opposed his form of liberalism, but Johnson still forced through the civil rights acts, social security, Medicare, etc.

   When asked to list the greatest politicians of the 20th century, Nixon mentioned FDR, Theodore Roosevelt, and Lyndon B Johnson.

10. He was a piece of shit but Robert Byrd knew how to play the game

11. Polk. He managed a successful expansionist policy.

    He was a bit of an expletive. But then he was a politician.

12. Gonna say it. Donald Trump.

    Mind you, Donald Trump is scum. Always has been. Anyone who has ever bothered to learn about his antics prior to 2016 would know as much.

    But he has somehow managed to take over the Republican Party. The GOP has absolutely prostituted itself to this clown.

    Waiting to see if the crush of legal proceedings take him down.

13. “Tact is the ability to tell someone to go to hell in such a way that they look forward to the trip.”

    ― Winston Churchill