Rank the heads of government of the following countries since you were born

[State Comptroller Atkins]

USA:

UK:

France:

Australia:

Canada:

Germany:

Russia:

[State Comptroller Atkins]

USA:

Obama
Clinton
Bush Jr.

UK:

Brown
Blair
Major
Cameron

France:

Mitterrand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:

Keating
Gillard
Rudd
Howard

Canada:

Chrétien
Martin
Harper

Germany:

Schröder
Merkel
Kohl

Russia:

Putin
Medvedev
Yeltsin

[You kip if you want to...]

USA:
Obama
Clinton
Bush

UK:
Blair
Brown
Major
Cameron

France:
Mitterand
(Hollande)
Chirac
Sarko

Australia:
Rudd
Keating
Gillard
Howard

Canada:
Chrétien
Martin
Harper

Germany:
Schröder
Merkel
Kohl

Russia:
Both just... awful.

[RogueBeaver]

US:

1) Bill Clinton
2) George H.W. Bush
3) George W. Bush
4) Barack Obama

UK

1) Tony Blair
2) David Cameron
3) John Major
4) Gordon Brown


France:

1) Nicolas Sarkozy
2) Francois Mitterrand
3) Jacques Chirac

Australia

1) John Howard
2) Paul Keating
3) Kevin Rudd
4) Julia Gillard

Canada

1) Stephen Harper
2) Brian Mulroney
3) Jean Chretien
4) Paul Martin

Germany

1) Angela Merkel
2) Helmut Kohl
3) Gerhard Schroder


Russia

All godawful.


To be more specific, my rankings are part effectiveness and part policy agreement. While I obviously agree with Major more than Blair, Blair was by far the more effective PM.

[For Oklahoma]

Let me just make it short: they're all pretty bad.

[Redalgo]

After three hours of reading about twenty-four heads of government from these countries I got burnt out and decided to delete what I had at that point instead of pressing on to finish. I like Mikhail Gorbachev's ideals even though he really sucked on fiscal policy, Obama may have held greater appeal to me if he'd not been so terribly sidetracked by the economic downturn, and there might be Australian prime ministers I had not read about yet who'd be appealing to me, but otherwise the whole field of options to rank since '88 seems a tad disappointing.

[Hashemite]

USA:
1. Obama
(gap)
2. Clinton
3. GHW Bush
(gap)
4. Dubya

UK, ugh.

1. Blair
2. Brown
3. Major
4. Cameron

France

1. My teddy bear
2. A bunch of stuff
(gap)
3. Sarkozy?
4. Mitt'rrand
5. Chirac

PMs

1. Fillon
2. Jospin
3. Raffarin
4. Bérégovoy
5. Ballamou
6. Juppé
7. Galouzeau

Australia:

1. Keating
2. Gillard
3. KRudd
(huge gap)
4. Howard

Canada:

1. Chretien
2. Martin
3. Campbell
4. Mulroney
5. cancer
(gap)
9999. Harper

Germany:

1. Schröder?
2. Merkel
3. Kohl

Russia:

1. A Vodka bottle
2. Yeltsin
3. Vlad's clone
4. The original Vlad

[Hatman]

US:

Canada

1) Stephen Harper
2) Brian Mulroney
3) Jean Chretien
4) Paul Martin

Missing someone?

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

USA:

Obama
Clinton
Bush, Sr.
Reagan
Bush Jr.

UK:

Brown
Blair
Major
Thatcher
Cameron

France:

Mitterrand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:

I don't know that much of Australian politics

Canada:

Chrétien
Martin
Mulroney
Harper
Campbell (lol 4 months lol)

Germany:

Kohl
Schroeder
Merkel

I like Schroeder (nowhere close to being crazy about, thought), but Kohl, despite his flaws, had greater historical achievements

Russia:

Lol, you're kidding me, right?

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

Also, Poland


Presidents:

Wojciech Jaruzelski
Bronisław Komorowski
Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Kaczyński

Right, Jaruzelski was the last Communist ruler from 1981 to 1989, but as a President under reestablished Democracy (1989-1990) he was examplary.

I strongly approve of Komorowski so far.

Kwaśniewski was decent, but had some major flaws.

Wałęsa is a great man due to his historical past before 1989, but his presidential record is rather poor.

Kaczyński... lol.


Prime Ministers

I'll do separate ranks for Communist Poland and the Third Republic

PRL

Mieczysław Rakowski
Zbigniew Messner
Czesław Kiszczak (less than a month)

Third Republic

Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Józef Oleksy
Leszek Miller
Donald Tusk
Marek Belka
Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz
Waldemar Pawlak
Jan Bielecki
Hanna Suchocka
Jan Olszewski
Jerzy Buzek
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz
Jarosław Kaczyński

[crypto-fascist superhero]

US

Bush I
Clinton
Bush II
Obama

UK

Major
Thatcher
Cameron
Brown
Blair

France

Chirac
Sarkozy
Mitterand

Australia

Hawke
Keating
Gillard
Rudd
Howard

Canada

Campbell (first, do no harm...)
Mulroney
Harper
Chretien
Martin

Germany

Schroeder
Kohl
Merkel

Russia

Medvedev
Putin
Yeltsin
Gorbachev

[Californian Tony]

France

1. My teddy bear
2. A bunch of stuff
(gap)
3. Sarkozy?
4. Mitt'rrand
5. Chirac

For God's sake, you're not serious ?

[I Can't Get That Sound You Make, Out Of My Head]

USA:

Obama
Clinton
(massive gap)
Bush

UK:

Brown
(gap)
Blair
Major
Cameron

France:

Mitterand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:

Keating
Gillard
Rudd
(big gap)
Howard

Canada:

Martin
Chretien
Harper

Germany:

(only one I know is Merkel)

Russia:

Yeltsin
Medevev
(massive gap)
Putin

[dialectical fetishist]

USA:
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama

UK:
John Major
Gordon Brown
Tony Blair
David Cameron

France:
Mitterand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:
Keating
Rudd
Howard
Gillard

Canada:
Chretien
Campbell
Martin
Harper
Mulroney

Germany:
Kohl
Schroeder
Merkel

Russia:
Putin
Medvedev
Yeltsin

[Hashemite]

France

1. My teddy bear
2. A bunch of stuff
(gap)
3. Sarkozy?
4. Mitt'rrand
5. Chirac

For God's sake, you're not serious ?

Why, yes I am.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

I wonder who dislikes French politics more - Hashemite or Keystone Phil?

[asexual trans victimologist]

What in the heck makes Sarkozy better than Mitterrand?

[Dr. Cynic]

USA:
Obama
Clinton
Bush 41
Reagan (only because I didn't have to deal with him very long)
Bush 43

UK:
Brown
Blair
Major
Cameron
Thatcher

France:
Mitterand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:
Hawke
Keating
Rudd
Gillard
Howard

Canada:
Chrétien
Martin
Campbell
Mulroney
Harper

Germany:
Schroder
Kohl
Merkel

Russia:
Gorby (Does he count?)
Yeltsin
Medvedev
Putin

[freefair]

USA:
Clinton
Obama
Bush Jr.

UK:
Major
Cameron
Blair
Brown

France:
Sarkozy
Mitterrand
Chirac


Australia:
Howard
Keating
Gillard
Rudd


Canada:
Harper
Chrétien
Martin


Germany:
Kohl
Merkel
Schröder


Russia:
Yeltsin
Putin
Medvedev

[ModerateCoward]

USA:

Clinton
Bush the old - passed taxes
Bush's Clone(Obama)
Bush Jr.

UK:

Brown
Blair
Major
Cameron

France:

Mitterrand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:

Keating
Rudd
Gillard
Howard

Canada:

Chrétien
Martin
Harper

Germany:

Schröder
Kohl
Merkel

Russia:
Kony 2012
Medvedev
cancer
Putin
Yeltsin

[So the Heroes Fall]

USA:
Obama
Clinton
Bush I
Reagan
Bush II

UK:
Brown
Cameron
Major
Blair
Thatcher

France:
Mitterand
Chirac
Sarkozy

Australia:
Hawke
Keating
Gillard
Rudd
Howard

Canada:
Trudeau
Chretien
Martin
Turner (Should he even be included?)
Mulroney
Campbell
Harper

Germany:
Schröder
Kohl
Merkel

Russia:
Gorbachev
*yuck*
Medvedev
Yeltsin
Putin
Andropov

[Californian Tony]

France

1. My teddy bear
2. A bunch of stuff
(gap)
3. Sarkozy?
4. Mitt'rrand
5. Chirac

For God's sake, you're not serious ?

Why, yes I am.

Well, then, either you've not followed french politics attentively enough or you policy views are not exactly what I thought they were. I won't defend Mitterrand or Chirac here but they both come miles ahead of Sarkozy in every aspect.

[Hashemite]

France

1. My teddy bear
2. A bunch of stuff
(gap)
3. Sarkozy?
4. Mitt'rrand
5. Chirac

For God's sake, you're not serious ?

Why, yes I am.

Well, then, either you've not followed french politics attentively enough or you policy views are not exactly what I thought they were. I won't defend Mitterrand or Chirac here but they both come miles ahead of Sarkozy in every aspect.

I don't think I've ever hidden it from you or anybody that my views on a lot of matters, especially fiscal/labour relations and so forth are pretty right-wing by French standards. And while it may not fit in with my general centrism (at least to me, you probably think I'm right-wing or something) and is in part irrational, I hate Mitt'rrand. I guess we'll need to agree to disagree on this, though next time I'll do without the fairly insulting "you've not followed french politics attentively enough" comment.

On a side note, while a good argument could be made for Mitt'rrand being superior to Sarko, but Chirac? What did he do except the Iraq shenanigans and escape going to jail for 12 years? Even an hyperactive moron like Sarko is better than a do-nothing guy who smiled a lot.

[Vasall des Midas]

a do-nothing guy who smiled a lot.

There are far worse things for a President to be.

[Californian Tony]

I obviously didn't mean to insult you. I think that, even though you're actually more French than I am, it's not the same to follow french politics from another country or to hear the political news every day. I don't follow italian politics as much as a resident italian would if he were as interested in politics as I am. That doesn't make me an ignorant in italian politics. I don't see what's insulting.

Maybe we actually disagree on issues, but by talking with you, you seemed to be the kind of guy who would hate Sarko. Let's not develop too much, but his disgustingly petty populism (even when it comes as far as veiled xenophobia) enough should make him worse in your eyes than Chirac and Mitterrand.

There are many things to hate about Mitterrand, but I think his overall impact in term of policies was good (1981-83 was terrible, of course). His 1988 victory saved us from undertaking the neoliberal sh*tstorm US, Britain, Germany and Canada suffered, and gave us 3 years of Rocard, who was an excellent PM.

As for Chirac, wut ? Of course, a do-nothing is way better than someone who does bad thing. It's logically evident.