Gee, you would think in light of the last eight years of hosannas from the press, Barack Obama would rank with Washington and Lincoln among America's academics. But nope, he was only 12th.
From Politico:
Less than a month after exiting the White House, Obama received high marks from presidential historians for his pursuit of "equal justice for all" and for his commanding "moral authority," ranking third and seventh among all former presidents in each respective category. The 44th president also cracked a top 10 ranking for his "economic management" and public persuasion.
The former president's tenure earned its lowest marks for the relationship between the presidency and Congress, with bitter partisanship often stagnating the effectiveness between the two and Obama seeing his Democratic majority slip in both the House of Representatives and the Senate during his eight years in office.
Historians, however, remained mixed on whether Obama's standing so soon after leaving office was higher or lower than expected.
"Although 12th is a respectable overall ranking, one would have thought that former President Obama’s favorable rating when he left office would have translated into a higher ranking in this presidential survey," said Edna Greene Medford, a Howard University professor and member of C-SPAN's historical advisory board.The rankings by category show a distinctly affirmative action grading curve.
For example, he ranks third in "Pursued Equal Justice For All," ahead of Grant (reconstruction and the Civil Rights Act of 1875), Coolidge (gave Indians citizenship), Eisenhower (sent the 101st to enforce school desegregation and the Civil Rights Act of 1957), and Truman (desegregated the military). Frankly, I can find nothing in Obama's portfolio that speaks to equal justice for all. The court legalized gay marriage without him. A gentleman's C puts him at 22.
Eighth in economic management? He added $9 trillion to the national debt and we never recovered from the recession he inherited. Bottom 10 in that category.
Twenty-fourth in international relations? He bombed countries without provocation, armed the Islamic State, and let Iran develop nuclear weapons. Bottom 10 in that category.
His domestic policy consisted of Obamacare, which elected a Republican House in 2010, a Republican Senate in 2014, and a Republican president in 2016.
Obama leaves the White House having achieved nothing positive on the economic front, nothing positive on the international front, and nothing positive on the domestic front.
I would rank him in the bottom 10 all around but even there he did not manage to be worse than Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, and a dozen other mediocre presidents we suffered in the 19th century.
His historic significance is he was the first black president, but did nothing more than that. That was a great achievement, but being rookie of the year alone does not gain entry into the Hall of Fame.
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In deciding whether to give him a third term, HiLlARy, or reverse course, Americans have ranked him 45th.
ReplyDeleteThe only high marks he gets are his days with the choom gang, but those records are lost.
This ranking was made by pretty-much true believers in the Cult of Obama.
ReplyDeleteFrom all 57 states too.
Deletejimmy carter was ranked at 11. All the rest were tied among the top ten spots. That's how obama is ranked 12.
ReplyDeleteA Howard University professor. I about wet meself when I read that. Sure, she's not biased. I would rank Obummer as the 46th worst president. Less than zero. What a horrible eight years we had to live through. For a stretch, I felt like Islamic mass murders were going to become a daily occurrence. And he didn't do a thing about it...
ReplyDeleteMr. Trump is bringing coal back to West Virginia! God bless and protect this man.
Worst would be Buchanan, who gave the slave insurrection a running start to a horrible war. Wilson would be next worse, who not only watched WWI destroy Europe, but also decided that the US had to get into it, and through his incompetence assured that the US suffered 100,000 casualties, AND another 800,000 deaths from influenza.
DeleteThird worst would be Roosevelt, who managed to abort the 1932 recovery, bribed key states to get reelected, watched the preparation for war in Europe and Asia and did nothing, and arranged for the US to suffer ~400,000 combat deaths.
He ranks high in teleprompter reading. And very very low in extemporaneous speaking. Of course, I don't know if he was a better extemporaneous speaker than Martin Van Buren for example, but I would think the old timers had to be good. They didn't have teleprompters.
ReplyDelete"Obama’s favorable rating" as determined by those who thought grifter granny would win handily.
ReplyDeletelibby
Buchanan was usually ranked worst since he tried so hard to pit Americans against each other.
ReplyDeleteI'd say President Pissy outdid him ad will eventually secure the bottom spot.
Especially if Iran gets a nuke and uses it----that'll guarantee ☪ظ☭ma the worst ranking for all time. Buchanan and Jimmeh will be very pleased.
Delete-Fred
"Eighth in economic management? "
ReplyDeleteYeah, he sure was great at putting together an acceptable budget each year. Oh wait, for most of his time in office didn't the government operate under continuing budget resolutions? And what about all those government-secured loans to companies owned by the Friends of Barack that ended up in bankruptcy, leaving the taxpayer with the bill? Have we gotten the final invoice for the $1 trillion in student debt Obama helped arrange that could be left for taxpayers to pay? I don't think so. Obama left a $20 T financial mess for future presidents to solve.
So posterity declaring his birthday a national holiday is probably too much to hope for, huh?
ReplyDeleteWhat about those five minutes in Chicago back in '86 when he took the recycling out to the kerb?
I don't think Obama was very good. but there can be no question that he was much better than Lincoln.
ReplyDeleteA ranking of the last twelve presidents??
ReplyDeleteJFK ranked 8th, LBJ ranked 10th, Nixon ranked 28th? Sorry, total BS survey. Kennedy did not live long enough to deserve that high a rank, LBJ was so disliked he didn't dare run for re-election, and while Nixon was a turd as a person, he was certainly not 18 places worse than LBJ as a president.
ReplyDeleteNumber one at being smug. It always surprises mm that progressives don't see that in the man. I try to imagine what I would think if he had fought for conservative causes. I guess I would just think him cocky, like Gingrich. But I wouldn't want either of them for a boss. Do progressive perceive it that way? He may be smug and condescending to those who disagree with him, but he's our guy?
ReplyDeleteHistorians "sense"?
ReplyDeleteHell, they all know, just as we do, but deviating from the Narrative will get them expelled from their secure tenure in the academic bubble.
Historians "sense"?
ReplyDeleteHell, they all know, just as we do, but deviating from the Narrative will get them expelled from their secure tenure in the academic bubble.
"Rookie of the year" based entirely on skin color?
ReplyDeleteBetter start over.
Quote: "... and Obama seeing his Democratic majority slip in both the House of Representatives and the Senate during his eight years in office."
ReplyDeleteThata is typically slippery wording from Politico, which really should rename itself to Democratico, to make clear its allegiance.
The expression "his Democratic majority slip" suggests a Democratic majority remained but slipped a bit in size. Not true. A large Democratic majority at the start of Obama's first term became a Democratic minority in both houses of Congress and in states across the country.
A more accurate way of expressing what happen would refer to that Democratic majority "dramatically vanishing" during Obama's eight years.
"his pursuit of "equal justice for all" and for his commanding "moral authority," . So, he's rated highly for one thing he never achieved and one thing he pissed away?
ReplyDelete"top 10 ranking for his "economic management" and public persuasion." And who is #9? P.T. Barnum?
"His historic significance is he was the first black president"- Actually, that's significant for the American populace, not Obama. If skin color is an achievement, he did that before he was ever president, and it's a pretty common achievement. In fact, I think everybody can achieve a skin color. What few ever do, however, is make it a qualification for office. On that matter, is it worse to be a skin huckster or a vagina huckster...just curious.
In a few years, when African Americans disown him as not one of them, he will be in Millard Fillmore territory.
ReplyDeleteAnd Don, thank you for everything you have written for 2 years.
ReplyDeleteYou are the man, hope you are getting the $. Bought both on Amazon.
Do you have a way to help pay for your expenses as well?