You might pick Eisenhower or Reagan, two popular two-term presidents.  But, if you look carefully at their times in office, you would have to conclude that the party was weaker when they left office than when they came in.

But you would be right, I think, to look at presidents.  The two men who have done the most to build the Republican party did hold that office — but didn't intend to help the party.

I refer, naturally, to — drum roll — Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

For Clinton, his biggest achievement was the 1994 election.  In that election, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 40 years.

The 1994 U.S. House of Representatives election was held on November 8, 1994, in the middle of President Bill Clinton's first term. As a result of a 54-seat swing in membership from Democrats to Republicans, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the United States House of Representatives for the first time since 1954.

And there's much more in that Wikipedia article, though I have to warn some of you that Republicans are likely to find the reading more pleasant than Democrats.

We can't give Clinton all the credit for the Republican gains, of course, but I think it fair to give him most of the credit.  (Oddly enough, many Democrats are fond of the man, in spite of what he did to their party.  I have no explanation for that, so I won't try to guess why they like a man who led them to such a smashing defeat.)

For Obama, his biggest achievement — so far — was the 2010 election.  We have to give him most of the credit, for example, for these Republican gains in the House.

Republicans regained control of the chamber they had lost in the 2006 midterm elections, picking up a net total of 63 seats and erasing the gains Democrats made in 2006 and 2008.  Although the sitting U.S. President's party usually loses seats in a midterm election, the 2010 election resulted in the highest loss of a party in a House midterm election since 1938.^[6][7]

And Republicans did very well in state legislatures, where they now hold the highest number of seats since 1928.

(Oddly enough, many Democrats are still fond of Obama, in spite of what he did to their party in 2010.  I have no explanation for that, so I won't try to guess why they like a man who led them to such a smashing defeat.)

Are Republicans grateful to Clinton and Obama?  Not as far as I can tell.   (That may seem small minded, but most Republicans may share my view that each man damaged the nation in his first two years as president.)

Even so, Republicans should at least recognize the help that Clinton and Obama gave their party.  Whether other Republicans share that recognition with their Democratic friends is up to them, of course.

Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.

(Incidentally, in September, 2008, I predicted that Obama, if elected, would be very very good for the Republican party.   I am immodest enough to say that I think that prediction has held up very well.)