My criterion is the power the leader has vis-à-vis the various billionaire oligarchs and my sense it that W would have gotten slapped down had he been so foolish as to seriously oppose Cheney on a plan near and dear to oil oligarchs' hearts. Bush 41 seems to me to be a much more likely answer to my question. Not Obama, Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ford or, even Nixon, IMO - (Bebe Reboso and Howard Hughes?) - though the USA was a significantly different country under Nixon and before. The most certain answer is FDR, but he was a 'one of'. It has NEVER been pretty.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."