James Buchanan, who was at the helm as the United States careened into civil war, was dislodged from his position as our nation’s worst president by our current president, Trump.
His Oval Office predecessor, Barack Obama, shot into the Top 10, up from 18th in the previous survey.
The biggest declines were for Bill Clinton, arguably the result of contemporary scorn for his treatment of women, and Andrew Jackson, for evolving attitudes on his treatment of Native Americans.
This poll is quite prestigious, as it elicits opinions from scholars who specialize in presidential history.
Barack Obama is now ranked as the 8th greatest president in American history, which is a rank I always knew he would attain, but certainly thought it would take longer than one year.
The only Presidents ranked higher than Obama are Lincoln, Washington, Franklin D Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, Jefferson, Truman, and Eisenhower. (Bill Clinton sits at 13 currently.)
Hard to argue with those rankings, and Obama even beat out Reagan for that eighth spot, which you just KNOW is going to drive the conservatives out of their minds.
As will the fact that their current party leader is ranked dead last.
And not by a little bit either, Trump is behind former last place holder James Buchanan by three whole points.
Hell even George W. Bush is in the top 30. Well actually to be honest he's number 30.
But still a hell of a lot better than sitting dead last.
I can hear it now:
ReplyDelete"Scholars!"
"FAKE Science!"
(spits on ground)
I can never get a straight answer when I ask "what did Reagan do that makes him a great president"?
ReplyDeleteI mean... BAD things he did:
Iran Contra (sold missiles to Iran)
busted the air-traffic union
eliminated the fairness doctrine
taxed Social Security for the first time ever
cut taxes, then RAISED taxes eleven times on everybody except the RICH
TRIPLED the debt and deficit
But what GOOD did he do?
Lest we forget, also closed down mental health facilities and put thousands on the street.
DeleteI'm waiting for that answer as well.
He did nothing really.
DeleteHe was an old actor who told jokes, dyed his hair and was basically a sock puppet who had Alzheimers and smiled a whole lot because he knew nothing of policy. They deified an idiot. Many of us Americans love that.
They deified an idiot.
Well, he did allow millions of people to die of AIDS with no compassion or empathy, a big plus for the Talibangelicals.
DeleteHey, he was a forerunner of Dotard! After all, under him, ketchup was declared a vegetable for school lunches!
DeleteAlso, wasn't he the one who claimed missiles were 'peacemakers' or was that gwb?
trump can do all he wants to destroy Obama's legacy-he can't change what we saw first hand. cadet bone spur is the worse!
ReplyDeleteWell little donnie should be happy at least he finally beat Obama in something and is winning the worst president ever contest, not many presidents can say that!
ReplyDeleteLink under picture to nyt article broken?
ReplyDeletePerhaps the biggest travesty of this list is the low status of Jimmy Carter. Although he was a bit of a micro-manager, he exhibited a high level of morality and integrity (not seen as very important these days, apparently), has been the only President to instill a lasting peace in the Middle East (Egypt and Israel), based our foreign policy on human rights (i.e., there are thousands of people still alive in Argentina as a result of his influence) and greatly increased the size of the National Park system (a much better deal for Alaska than was thought at the time). Also, he was/is a devout Christian who thoroughly understood the necessity of separation of church and state and never imposed his personal beliefs on the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteLol. They are rating a sitting President one year in? That pretty much sums up what a joke this supposed rating is right there.
ReplyDeletePiss off, lol troll. You contribute nothing here.
DeleteCheck President Obama's first year - they were rating him too, 8:41 AM. Trump is the very worst - something he shows us almost hourly!
DeleteSure thing 2:13. Obama was also given the Nobel Peace prize, then he proceeded to drop bombs all over the Middle East and areas in Africa for eight years.
DeleteLove it, love it! President Obama is the best and surpasses the idiot currently in D.C. in every way.
ReplyDeleteThis news will literally cream Trump's jeans or depends!
This isn't news. It isn't anything even real. It is opinion.
DeleteTheir little pin heads are already exploding.
ReplyDeleteFake news, biased, it's an opinion poll, etc. to undermine it.
They said it's too soon, he's only had a year, you have to wait years to judge where a president would stand on a list like that.
I beg to differ. I think we all know enough about Trump. And we don't need any PhDs to make a list for us. We all know where he stands.
As an example they say how can Trump be worse than a president that didn't do anything but die one month after his inauguration speech. He didn't accomplish anything.
Which is kinda the point. A president that did nothing is still better than Trump.
Trump will hold that bottom spot forever. There will never be a president worse than him.
8 years.
DeleteHe creates cognitive dissonance.
ReplyDelete