New presidential rankings by the American Political
Science Association have shattered the repugican lie that President
Obama is the worst president in history.
The most highly ranked presidents contained many of the usual suspects. Abraham Lincoln was rated the greatest president, with an average score of 95 out of 100, followed by George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt.The rest in the top 10 were Teddy Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson.How does Barack Obama fare? Scholars had a mixed view of him. Obama ranks 18th overall and, among the modern presidents (those since FDR), he is in the middle of the pack. He ranks behind not only Clinton and Eisenhower but also Reagan, Johnson, Kennedy, and the shrub's daddy. Obama ranks ahead of Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, and the shrub.
Historians and experts caution that is nearly
impossible to rate a president while they are still in office. It is
difficult to evaluate Obama. The president’s legacy will be tied to the
Affordable Care Act. If the law stays in place and continues to grow,
the president’s legacy will be helped. Obama’s actions on gay marriage,
immigration, and climate change will also shape his legacy in a positive
way.
The economy is also going to shape President Obama’s
legacy. If the economy continues to grow rapidly over the next two
years, Obama could become a top ten president. It is easy to imagine a
scenario where the economy robustly expands, and history rewards this
president for bringing the nation out of the worst economic crisis since
the Great Depression.
The American Political Science Association did warn that the participants were influenced by their personal political ideology.
What is clear is that the favorite refrain of
Republicans that Obama is the worst president is not true. Obama is not
even close to being the worst president ever. The numbers, the facts,
and experts all agree that repugicans are wrong about Obama.
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