…and that means not only an order, but also the smell.
“Kim, WTF are you talking about?”
Some smart guy (Robert Graboyes, at the splendidly-named Bastiat’s Window ) decided that Teh Experts cocked it up (surprise, surprise):
Two recent BW posts (“Polls, Pols, and Poli-Sci” and “Presidential Prodigiousness Potpourri”) lambasted the Bizarro World of presidential rankings from the 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey. Some of the more ludicrous findings are summarized/caricatured in the graphic above. Several readers asked me to offer my own rankings. I can’t do a 1-through-45 list, but I can lump them into five tiers: (T#1) highly positive, (T#2) somewhat positive, (T#3) neutral, (T#4) somewhat negative, and (T#5) highly negative.
Go ahead and read it before continuing here.
My only quibbles are that Obama and Biden (the latter a.k.a. Obama The Much Lesser) didn’t end up in Tier 5, the absolute stinkers; and that Calvin Coolidge wasn’t in Tier 1 (although I will cop to being a yuge fan of Coolidge, so I may be biased).
I can’t fault Graboyes’s methodology, however, in that he refused to take into account what the presidents did when not in the Oval office (either before or after), which is good. His example:
Madison’s role in the Federalist Papers and Constitution make him a titan, but his presidency was mediocre.
He did include some non-Presidential material, though:
…Jimmy Carter, who has made himself a national pustule for over four decades.
By the same token, therefore Obama should be likewise excoriated because “national pustule” would be too kind a judgment on his post-Presidential shenanigans.
Feel free to discuss the observations of both Graboyes and mine, in Comments.
I must first admit that my knowledge of presidential history is not quite what it should be. But when has that stopped anyone on the inner tubes from showing his ass?
The list clearly highlights preferences, and maybe prejudices (in a non-pejorative sense). I’m a small government, individual liberty guy.
The scope and complexity of presidential power has exploded since FDR. He created the administrative state. For that reason, FDR should be moved down at least two tiers. Maybe 3. He contributed strongly to an expansion of government power that I truly loath. I’ll give him some credit for that WWII donnybrook.
So, presidents after him had much larger opportunities to screw up. Being government, they were constitutionally inclined against accomplishing anything of unalloyed good.
Lincoln – Graboyes gives him Tier 1 for saving the union. I feel ambivalent about that whole war, given the northern industrialists abuse of the southern agrarians, and I believe slavery would have become economically untenable shortly anyway. I think it would have died on its own. Lincoln himself said, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the union without freeing any slaves I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” He abused the Constitution egregiously to achieve the goal of saving the Union. Who’s to say we wouldn’t be better off with two countries next to each other? So, I view Lincoln with deep misgivings.
I’d make Coolidge Tier 1 for all the reasons Graboyes lists.
GWB gave away too much money, so I’d drop him a tier.
I agree with his assessment of Clinton. T2 or 3, combined with lots of T5 pulls him down.
Obama – T5. He did significant damage to our government AND to our culture. He continues to do it in his current 3rd term, so I include his “after office” actions since he really does continue to wield power.
Trump, I’d move up. Maybe to tier 2.5. I agree with the list of accomplishments. And, significantly, many of those were within what I consider the legitimate purview of a president. So, I laud him for keeping his attention mostly where it belonged. The cons Graboyes lists don’t weigh as heavily with me. I’d have to think hard to name a single president I’d like to have a beer with. Trump certainly doesn’t make that list. But the list of presidential attributes doesn’t overlap that much with the list of beer buddy attributes. So, I don’t hold that against any of them.
Biden – T5.5. He continued Obama’s vandalism of America with gusto, but he also introduced all the degenerates into his administration.
Wilson – I agree with the rating, but he forgot to mention the League of Nations.
Hoover – I had a better impression of him, but I admit to my lack of knowledge.
Carter – I agree with the rating.
Lincoln, FDR, and Truman all deserve to drop at least 2 tiers. Maybe 3.
FDR trusted Stalin, and allowed the Communist march through our institutions.
Truman gutted the military and our weakness helped start the Koriean war. “Containing” communism was at best a delaying action, not definitive.
Lincoln. Playing fast and loose with the Consititution in order to save the Union from the 2% or less of Southerners who owned slaves, when slavery was on the way out anyway. But hey, what do the deaths of 3/4 million Americans mean, anyway.
I’ll give Truman a tiny boost for deciding to drop the bomb and thus saving my Dad’s life.
Re Carter – “pustule” is too lenient. IIRC, he placed his seal of approval on the election of the vile Chavez in Venezuela, despite blatantly obvious cheating and the ruin that awaited the people. His reason? Riots were avoided and that way “no one got hurt.”
Slavery was declining. Anyone have any data to support that conclusion?
Wilson sold us into poverty with Federal Reserve and FDR and LBJ made us wards of the state to depend on the government for cradle to grave for our existence.
these alleged intellectuals who rank presidents sit in their ivory towers and make these lists from time to time and it’s only to shame and vilify any conservative politician or any Republican. I find these lists to be dishonest. These “scholars” know a little more about the subject matter, in this case presidents, that no on really cares about and often has minimal effect on our daily lives. Name a policy or legislation signed into law by Franklin Pierce that affects us today. How about Grover Cleveland? or Martin Van Buren?