Monarch. (Australia & UK)
1. Queen Elizabeth II

Presidents (Nigeria)
1. General Jack Gowan
2. General Murtula Mohammed
3. General Olusegan Obasanjo

Prime Ministers (Australia & UK)
1. Sir Jack McEwen
2. Sir John Gorton
3. Sir Billy McMahon
4. Gough Whitlam
5. Malcolm Fraser
6. Margaret Thatcher
7. Bob Hawke
8. Paul Keating
9. John Howard
10. Kevin Rudd
11. Julia Gillard

15 leaders in total. Of the democratically elected, Howard was the best, though I rate Thatcher highly. Whitlam & Gillard tying for worst.

1. Ronald Reagan
2. George Bush Sr.
3. Bill Clinton
4. George Bush Jr.
5. Barack Obama

I was born into insanity: the Reagan era. I came of age in insanity: the Bush Jr. era.

I miss Clinton. Obama reminds me of Bush Sr.

My Wife
Occassionaly Miss Whiplash
Capitalism
Various teachers
Parents

why does Obama remind you of Bush the Elder? has he thrown up in the Japanese Prime Minister's lap?

viewed from another country, I loved Clinton simply for his sheer newsworthiness. Never a dull moment.

My mother
My wife

The One Ring
Kestas

Norway 1994 - 1997
Monarchs:

1994 - 1997: Harald V (Quite indifferent really)

Prime Ministers:

1994 -1996: Gro Harlem Brundtland (Had do use google just to find out)
1996 -1997: Thorbjørn Jagland (Same applies here, though I enjoyed my toddler years, so he can't have been TOO bad...)

United Kingdom:
Monarchs:

1997 - Present: Elizabeth II (The only Monarch I have ever really known, but by my standards she does a pretty good job, especially considering her age now)

Prime Ministers:

1997 - 1997: John Major (Wasn't old enough to have any influence on me)
1997 - 2007: Tony Blair (Well we had some nice economic prosperity during these years, then I started studying economics and realised how unsustainable it all was, and how he and brown screwed up the economy, and how he was a bit of an arse concerning Iraq, so no no no...)
2007 - 2010: Gordon Brown (The amount of fairies he has killed by ''smiling'' is unforgivable)
2010 - Present: David Cameron (My family being conservative the the core, I feel obliged to like him, and I do like how he actually buckled down and enforced cuts trying to fix the economy the Labour government screwed up, DAMN YOU BROWN, but he isn't doing too great a job of it, but considering my other options I would have to say my ol' chap David with his second hand man Gideon Osbourne come out on top. I don't blame him changing his name, can you imagine the UK having a conservative chancellor called Gideon... Oh and lets not forget Cleggy, I hear he does make a mighty good brew)

So there we have it, my opinions on all the leaders I have lived through. In my actual memory I haven't had many greats to choose from to be honest... Well that's my post :)

Don't forget the Pope guys!

1987-1994: Mario Cuomo
1995-2006: George Pataki
2007-2008: Eliot Spitzer
2008-2010: David Paterson
2011-pres: Andrew Cuomo/Bill Haslam

Prime ministers of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic:
Marián Čalfa (1990-1992)
Jan Stráský (1992)

Prime ministers of the Czech Republic in Czechoslovakia:
Petr Pithart (1990-1992)
Václav Klaus (1992)

Prime minister of the Czech Republic:
Václav Klaus (1993-1998)
Josef Tošovský (1998)
Miloš Zeman (1998-2002)
Vladimír Špidla (2002-2004)
Stanislav Gross (2004-2005)
Jiří Paroubek (2005-2006)
Mirek Topolánek (2006-2009)
Jan Fischer (2009-2010)
Petr Nečas (2010-present)

Not a very safe job, but then again not that different from say Italy.

Best was Klaus till 1994, when he stopped being a liberal reformer and started being the asshole he has been till today. Worst was definitely Stanislav Gross, a former locomotive engineer apprentice who cheated his way to a lawyer degree and eagerly awaited to be sentenced for corruption.

Clinton
W. Bush
Obama

Bush was by far the worst
Clinton Presided over a better time, but I think Obama has had a more coherent and effective foreign policy, and he got Healthcare passed

Presidents:
Johnson
Nixon
Ford
Carter
Reagan
G.H.W. Bush
Clinton
G.W. Bush
Obama

Governors:
Albertis S. Harrison, Jr (Virginia: while I was in my mother's womb)
Mills E Godwin, Jr. (Virginia: took office six days before I was born)
Buford Ellington (Tennessee for my second year of life)
Jim Rhodes (Ohio)
John Gilligan (Ohio)
Jim Rhodes (Ohio) again
Dick Celeste (Ohio)
George Voinovich (Ohio)
Nancy Hollister (Ohio)
Bob Taft (Ohio)
Ernie Fletcher (Kentucky)
Steve Beshear (Kentucky)
John Kasich (Ohio)

Best President while in office - Probably Reagan, but I have to give props to Clinton as well. I always thought the Republican parties pursuit of him just cause he had sex with Monica and didn't want to admit it was a witch hunt and a waste of tax payer dollars. I didn't agree with everything he did, but he was a good over all president. I also Think Geroge H.W. Bush got a bum rap with the "read my lips, no new taxes" as he didn't truly get how bad it was (I like Reagan but think he kept some thigns hidden from Bush and I think his staff kept things hidden from him) and so raised taxes out of necessity.

Best President since leaving office - Tough call because Clinton, Carter, Ford, and GHW Bush have all done some great things but I lean towards saying Carter for his Middle East efforts and his work with Habitat for Humanity.

Worst President - I can't judge Nixon as I wasn't even truly aware yet. I would have to say Carter in office although neither Obama nor GW Bush impressed me at all. One is a socialist and the other a warmonger.

Best Governor - Beshear of Kentucky hands down. Which is odd coming from a genrally conservative person. But has has done more good for Kentucky...

Worst Governor - Either Fletcher of KY or Kasich here in Ohio. One was as corrupt as they come and the other simply incompetent and a moron.

Carter is the best ex-president the US ever had. Him and Taft.

My mother always said the same things that make Jimmy Cater a wonderful human being are the things that made him a terrible president. He's diplomatic, moral, humble, and honest; if that's not a recipe for political failure, I don't know what is.

+1 on both counts, Hecks.

I've always believed that an honest and good man has little future in politics. Only a few times in history have they made it to the top office and then it was either a tremendous success or a stunning disaster and usually the later as is the case with Carter. The man has real integrity.

Have you read his book Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid? Outstanding book with some great insights. But I also love his Memoirs and Poems, especially Christmas in Plains.

I can't believe how many have rated Gordon Brown so low. He "saved the world"!

So did Chamberlain.

"I can't believe how many have rated Gordon Brown so low. He "saved the world"! "
At a time of huge financial crisis when world leaders were in panic and nobody knew what to do Gordon Brown showed great vision and leadership to calm nerves and steer a course out of the financial tsunami.
He'll probably never win any medals for that but he 'manned-up' and plotted a way forward out of the crisis. The other EU leaders were completely lost ...... cometh the hour, cometh the man.

I don't like the phrase "ruled" for a democratic society. It indicates monarchical values which are antithetical to proper republican sensibilities. It implies a remove or separation of the governing class that indicates some sense of superiority. But then again I don't think we should have a national anthem or call politicians by their former titles (i.e. Governor Romney), so don't listen to me.

Presidents:

Reagan (Barely)
H.W. Bush
Clinton (First president I remember)
G. W. Bush
Obama (First president I voted for)

@ Draug

"I've always believed that an honest and good man has little future in politics"

Don't be so hasty, Draug. I was told once, on this very forum, of the existance of truly humble and honourable politicians a member of this site had met in the US. I forget who it was who said it, but I do recall him being quite insistant about it at the time. Somewhere in a Pope thread if you want to look for it ;)

Since I have been able to vote, the PMs have been

Thatcher
Major
Blair
Brown
Cameron

Not much of a choice really. I'll go for Blair as least bad.

The only monarch I've lived under is QEII, but as I'm a republican at heart, I don't really have a view on her performance

That was me, quite possibly, Oct. I referred to Thomas Kindness who gave me an appointment to West Point and a recommendation to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. There was nothing hasty in saying "little future" as it doesn't say "no future" and Kindness actually proves my point as he was basically chewed up and spit out by Washington and opted to retire to Devonshire, England where he worked with the ambassadorial office and eventually passed away.

He went from living in Washington to living in Devon? Lucky escape! There are few better places to retire to. Methinks in the end he won :)

@Draugnar-

Which one is the socialist and which is the warmonger?

Ronald Reagan
Richard Bryan
George H. W. Bush
Bob Miller
Bill Clinton
Ann Richards
George W. Bush
Rick Perry
Barack Obama

Favorite is Reagan. I wasn't really old enough to follow the politics of it at the time, but like most people in the US, I loved the man. There was something dimly comforting to seeing his picture around. (I remember my older sister crying when in 1989 it turned out our VCR had malfunctioned and failed to record his farewell).

Of course, I now also think he was a tremendous President, which is why he's still my favorite.

No president, monarch, or prime minister has ever ruled me. I am submissive to no government.

Why do you think Reagan was a tremendous president?

Do you pay income taxes, GF?