Host again, thanks for joining us this president s day. Going to get straight to comments from facebook on our topic, who is your favorite president and why . Lincoln. Tes abraham he was a common man, not highly educated or from a wealthy family. I believe he was truly saddened when we became involved in the civil war which killed so many of our people. He had a caring heart and wanted what was best for citizens of our country. He was truly a great man. , t below him, manny writes too surprising choices. James k. Polk, set up for your platform and a compass 100 of it. And chester a arthur, a new york patronage stalwart who worked to eliminate it in his three years in office. First call from new york to a is on our line for republicans. Caller my favorite president is Ronald Reagan and i feel the country was at its strongest when he was president does 8 years. At its strongest since maybe the 50s. Before him and after him the country was in that strong. And no one messed around with us and the economy was good president. Economy was good and he was a very good president. Host georgia. Ed is on our line for republicans. Caller my favorite president was Abraham Lincoln because he went down south and smashed the democrats and free the slaves. Host that was from lawrenceville, georgia. Of course, we cannot talk about president s without talking a. Ittle bit about 2016 in the Washington Times, catching up to clinton no easy feat. In a 2016 president ial contest that can be summed up as Hillary Rodham clinton versus everybody else, the races and even close. The race isnt even close. Pulling data suggest that not only is clinton miles ahead of potential democratic rivals, but she is besting the public and votes by significant margins. In some cases for leaders in the and somes. Cases her lead is in the double. Gits whenmall sleep comes matched up against representative paul ryan. Even then she is up by eight points. Joe was on outline for independents. Joe, you are on washington journal. Caller it would have to be fdr because he had the courage and the backbone to do the right thing after republicans put us depression. He had the backbone to do things that this president doesnt. Have a good day, maam. 2012 president ial candidate mitt romney was on meet the press this weekend. [video clip] i dont think bill clinton is as relevant as Hillary Clinton. If hillary were to run for president , and her case people would look at her record as secretary of state and during period of time, did our relations around the world elevate america and our interests or were they receiving receding. Her record will be what she is just a pie, not her husbands. Its interesting, republicans resurrecting the 1990s and part of the messages keep the clintons out of the white house again. Do you see this as a pair . Th Hillary Clinton wil have plent to discuss abou her own record and dont imagine bill clinton will be a big part of it. The times he was president were by and large positive Economic Times for the country. On the other hand, he embarrassed the nation, he breached his responsibility as an adult, as a leader in his relationship, and that is very unfortunate. But i dont think that is Hillary Clintons to explain. She has her own record and vision for where she would take is country and that something we debated extensively during the 2016 campaign. Host that was from the meet the press interview this weekend with mitt romney. Our question this morning, who is your favorite president and why . Host lets go to twitter for a couple of leader comments there. Host next up in randallstown, maryland, derek is on outline for democrats. Caller good morning. I would say Abraham Lincoln and then fdr and then Lyndon Baines johnson. I think the worst president we probably ever had was Ronald Reagan. Ronald reagan did a good job as the cold war, but other than that, he sold out the middle class, the National Deficit was 800 billion when he started and when he left it was extremely dollars it was 6 trillion. At one point unemployment was 10 . He sold out the middle class and created reaganomics, which was nothing but a ploy to help big business is an rich people make a lot of money. The worst is reagan but i think the best is those 3 i mentioned. Host derek, what did you like about those guys . Caller first of all, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. That was very monumental, and still to this day the south is a pain. But he showed great leadership during a very important time in american history, and then you have linen mens jobs and, Lyndon Baines johnson, who established equal Voting Rights for all people in this country, which really made the back then they were democrats, but made them so upset that they became republicans. I would say those 3. Thank you. Talking were just about Ronald Reagan. Lets listen him speaking in june of 1987 calling on president gorbachev to tear down the berlin wall. [video clip] mr. Gorbachev, open these gates. [cheers and applause] ,r. Gorbachev mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. [cheers and applause] i understand the fear of war and the pain of division that afflict this continent, and i pledge to you by countrys efforts to help overcome these burdens, to be sure that we in the west must resist soviet expansion. So we must maintain defenses and unassailable strength. Yet we seek peace. We strive to reduce arms on both sides. Host i was Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States. Shreveport, louisiana, homer is on the line for democrats. Caller yes, i guess my favorite is barack obama. I think barack obama because everything is no and he is still getting the job done. As far as Abraham Lincoln, he didnt free the slaves. Slavesthe fight with the the rich was were getting harvests off of the slaves in the south. That is my common. Comment. Host take a look at a cnn poll from a couple months ago. It found that john f. Kennedy is the most popular president of the last halfcentury. Of survey indicates that 90 all americans approve of how kennedy handled his job as president. No other president of the last halfcentury comes close. Second place goes to Ronald Reagan, with a 70 retrospective approve or it, followed by bill clinton with 74 . Richard nixon, the only president forced to resign, is at the bottom, with only 41 approving of his track record from 1969 to 1974. That from a survey released late last year. Todd is onn outline for democrats. Caller how are you doing . Host good morning. Im doing alright. How are you doing . Caller fine. My favorite would have to be jimmy carter, not just what he did great for the country but what he did great for me. I met jimmy carter, and at the time he was senator carter, and he was at the state fair any calls is over and we were not old enough to vote or anything, and he encouraged us to stay in school, work hard, ok our parents, obery our cap and we wouldnts be successful. At that time he was governor of georgia. He called his africanamerican kids over and he started encouraging us. When he became president s there were a lot of things he wanted to do but his own party was against him but he wanted to do great for the country and its history goes on and this history goes on, he was an inspiration to many of us. Host a couple more comments from twitter. Host remember, you too can tweet at us. cspanwj. Who is your favorite president and why . Caller i would have to say harry truman and the lyndon johnson, because of his work with the civil rights laws. But just think about Ronald Reagan. They must be kidding, these rightwingers. That was the worst president. He illegally sold weapons to the terrorist nation of iran. There was 135 members of his administration which were indicted or forced to resign for thees he openly opposed 1964 civil rights law, the 1965 Voting Rights act. This was the worst president in history whos been the beneficiary of the greatest revisionist history trick in the history of the United States president s. He was a terrible president. I cannot believe these people. Thank you. On outline for democrats, who was your favorite president and why . To say whoam, i want was the worst president s. There are 3 of them, in my opinion. Hello . Host go ahead, we are still with you. Caller the worst in my opinion was johnson because he raided the Social Security fund to fund a war in vietnam that he admitted he cannot win. It was hypocrisy. Id he was instrumental in kennedy i think he was instrumental in kennedys death. The second was president bush, who had no idea what he was doing and i have no idea how he can go to bed at night with these wounded veterans and all who have been killed. Who has no idea what he is supposed to be doing, and he shouldnt be president because he is a kenyan. Host lets take a look at a story that is making headlines and packing this presidency. From the New York Times, democrats run two men of a gop aims to end. They are reveling with an awkward reality the presence healthcare law comprised almost entirely by democrats, remains a political liability in many states. As a result, Party Leaders have decided on an aggressive new strategy to address unease with the health care law, urging Democratic Candidates talk openly about the law tossed problems while offering their own prescriptions to fix it. Randy is on outline for democrats. Caller good morning, thank you for taking my call, and i will like to thank cspan for this program and thank all the people we dont see behind the scenes for putting it on. My president my favorite president would have to be go clinton, because if i didnt have him in my years of working, i would not have a house and my kids in their 20s to live because this economy is never going to come back from some of the policies of these republicans. You havent heard an idea out of republicans but to take and that is all they know, is due take. Im glad we were smart enough to elect mr. Clinton because he is the one thing keeping some of us out here a float till we can get through these ridiculous policies that the republicans that just obstruct do. I want to thank you very much for allowing me to speak to you have a great day. Host certainly have a great day here at cspan. Lets listen to president bill clinton giving the final state of the union of his first term following the federal government shutdown. [video clip] the era of Big Government is over. But we cannot go back to the werewhen our citizens left to fend for themselves. [applause] instead, we must go forward as one america, one nation working together to meet the challenges we face together. Selfreliance and teamwork are not opposing virtues. We must have both. [applause] i believe our new, Smaller Government was work in an oldfashioned american way. Together with all of our citizens through state and local government, in the workplace, and religious, charitable, and civic associations, our goal people to enable our make the most of their own lives, with stronger families, greater educational opportunity, economic security, safer streets, cleaner environment, and a safer world. To improve the state of our union, we must ask more of ourselves, we must expect more of each other, we must face our challenges together. President bill clinton delivering a state of the union in january 1996. Our next call comes from new jersey. Line for democrats but are you able to turn your tv or radio down . We would love to talk to you. Caller hello . Host eddie, you are on washington journal. If you could turn your tv down we would love to talk to you. Caller hello . Host we will come back to you in a little bit. Bronx, new york, where alex is on our line for republicans. Caller good morning, everyone. 3 ort to say that we have 4 president s [indiscernible] people are suffering and they garbagesr food in the and they come and say only slogans. What is being what is important here is our people. Most of people, citizens, are in redline. Host alex, who is your favorite president . Caller my first president was Abraham Lincoln, because he find the needs of the people and you try to fix it. After that i couldnt find bush andidents obama and clinton made worse situations than before. Host tony in fayetteville, North Carolina on our line for republicans. Caller good morning. Host good one, tony, how are you . Caller pretty good. I am a black republican and my favorite president was Ronald Reagan. Ronald reagan recognize that if you get out of the American Peoples way, they will do amazing things. More black businesses were created under reagan than any other time in history. More black ceos were nominated than in any other time in history. The greatest amount of black employment was during Ronald Reagans time. Even though he has been blacklisted by democrats for years. , theu compare anything greatest economic expansion we have had since world war ii was under Ronald Reagan. Quite likely, black folks did better than just about anybody else. 15 of the employed people even though we were at that time 12 of the population. Our incomes doubled under Ronald Reagan, ok . If you get out of peoples way and recognize the greatness of are veryamerica ins smart. Tell them what the boundaries are, tell them what the rules are, and get out of the way. Americans will amaze you of what they can do. Ronald reagan recognized that. Im not talking just for myself. This comes from harvard, a rather liberal plateglass, check. A rathers from liberal place, the last time i checked. This comes from the census department. Get out of peoples way and there will may see what they can do, and Ronald Reagan recognize that and we as black people benefited from that. Please be my guest and check that out. Host next, tallahassee, florida, line for independents. Caller good morning. I used to be a democrat. I was a reagan democrat. I am in my 60s. My favorite president is Ronald Reagan, not just for the economic recovery, like the gentleman just said. He was putting much on the money. Much on the money. He a great since of humor and he never took himself too seriously and he kept peace through strength. I think he is sorely missed and that is why he is my favorite president and i didnt become an independent until recently and that is because the Democratic Party has vacated me. I dont know who they are anymore. Not my daddys club anymore and not my club anymore and it hasnt been that way for really long time. I thank you very much. Host our next caller is david in jefferson city, missouri. Caller hello . Host good morning, you are on washington journal. Caller my favorite president is barack obama. I say that because i was able to quit work and join so many others who dropped out of the workforce, and still i maintain a good lifestyle. I get me some free food stamps, for insurance free insurance, i will try to get on disability, because that seems to be pretty easy to do now, debt free housing, demi a free phone, see what else is on the free list and as long as there are workers out there i can maintain my lifestyle. Host lets listen now to president barack obama announcing to the nation that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. [video clip] conductedstates has an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al qaeda, a terrorist was multiple for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. Thats nearly 10 years ago a bright september day was darkened by the worst attack on American People in our history. The images of 9 11 are seared into our national memory. Hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless september sky. The 20 hours collapse into the ground. Black smoke billowing up from the pentagon. The wreckage of flight 93 in shanksville, pennsylvania, were the actions of hero citizens saved even more heartbreaking destruction that heartbreak and destruction heartbreak and disruption. Scenes arounde the world and easy to the dinner table, children forced to grow up without their mother or neverther, parents would know the feeling of the childs embrace, nearly three thousand citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts. Host our next call comes from seahawk, massachusetts. Joe is on our line for independents. Caller i would have to say that jimmy carter was our best president. He had the opportunity to go to war when they took hostages and he did not and they came back alive. Our worst president was Ronald Reagan. A hebron in hell because he committed treason by dealing with iran may he burn in hell because he committed treason by dealing with iran before the election. Host Washington Times obamas executive actions can backfire on democrats and gop takes the white house. Of executive use power to ease the rollout of his healthcare law could be setting the stage for the republicans to roll back the overhauls most controversial parts if they retake the white house in 2016. The president next up is lorenzo in summerville, georgia on our line for democrats. Are you with us . Caller yes, can you hear me . Host yes, go ahead. Caller my favorite president was fdr. He was able to do the , so younger corps people could get that experience and get involved and get their hands dirty. I guess the infrastructure of the site country said country. That would be my topic. Morristown, alex in morristown, new jersey. Caller h w bush, the 41st. Host what did you like about him . Caller he d