Who was the best US president in the last 40 years?

I cannot believe what I’m about to say, but I’m going to go with my initial gut reaction to seeing that list. Of all of them, I admire Bush 1 for making decisions based on what was right in the moment even at the expense of political expediency. The entire decade of the 90’s may have been very different had Bush 1 not had the conviction to stand up to a room full of war hawks and hold the line against invading Iraq, which was a mistake his son would later unfortunately make. He also attempted to address rising budget deficits that were not projected in ‘88 (when he made the “no new taxes” pledge) by enacting cuts and tax increases that were fiscally reasonable given the shifting economic landscape, and he did this knowing he’d be crucified for it in ‘92. I can’t think of another president out of that group who consistently opted for the best decision for the situation over the best political maneuver for himself. In retrospect, he doesn’t get enough credit for that, and when I was in my early 20’s, I certainly didn’t recognize it at the time. However, I appreciate it now.