>>> I would not label Carter as the worst president in our general lifetimes, but I certainly would label him one of the most ineffective.
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>In hindsight, he was fortunate. GWB won the big hat just as the internet came into its own, which created huge challenges for him and it's worse for Obama. Convenient parochial spin has become practically impossible and it feels as if most of the world is determined to see what happens if they poke burning tapers into a fuel tank. Consider that Reagan got to stay on his ranch for another 4 days before he had to front up during the Lockerbie incident, and now imagine the furor if the Malaysian plane were a US jet and Obama stayed in Hawaii playing golf for another 4 days before fronting, or GWB stayed incommunicado on the Bush spread for a couple of days because there was a rodeo he wanted to attend. Modern presidents have it tough.

That might be true, but I would say the "optics" regarding Obama's reactions after major events are the worst of all.