FDR best President, Obama 15th, scholars say

[Saxwsylvania]

Since the professorial field is overwhelmingly liberal Democrat, these findings are worthy of an eye roll and nothing more.  Anyone who thinks Bill Clinton was a better President than Ronald Reagan needs their head examined.  Obama in the top 15?  Lol.

Or maybe they're more likely to be liberal because they know and understand history, whereas conservatives are, as the old saying goes, just doomed to repeat it?

So only liberals can interpret history correctly?  Hmm, I guess you're right, except when it comes to economics, war, and most social issues.

I think the best judges of presidential performance are the people, not an ivory tower clique of Marxist professors.  If you seriously think that Obama should be ranked #15 (now or ever) you need serious counseling.

[Phony Moderate]

Since the professorial field is overwhelmingly liberal Democrat, these findings are worthy of an eye roll and nothing more.  Anyone who thinks Bill Clinton was a better President than Ronald Reagan needs their head examined.  Obama in the top 15?  Lol.

Or maybe they're more likely to be liberal because they know and understand history, whereas conservatives are, as the old saying goes, just doomed to repeat it?

So only liberals can interpret history correctly?  Hmm, I guess you're right, except when it comes to economics, war, and most social issues.

I think the best judges of presidential performance are the people, not an ivory tower clique of Marxist professors.  If you seriously think that Obama should be ranked #15 (now or ever) you need serious counseling.

Your opinion matters.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Since the professorial field is overwhelmingly liberal Democrat, these findings are worthy of an eye roll and nothing more.  Anyone who thinks Bill Clinton was a better President than Ronald Reagan needs their head examined.  Obama in the top 15?  Lol.

Or maybe they're more likely to be liberal because they know and understand history, whereas conservatives are, as the old saying goes, just doomed to repeat it?

And Lunar tries to tell me that Liberalism is not inherently arrogant. Thanks badger, I am trully grateful for you help in proving me right.  

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Harrison and Garfeild probably shouldn't be ranked at all, given that they had less than six months in office.

[Ameriplan]

Wilson was horrible.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Obama is 15th now because he's only finished half his term. 2 more years and he'll be at 30th.

[Bo]

During his three year tenure his greatest accomplishment was probably the Cuban Missile Crisis, which he handle admirably.

JFK was responsible for causing the Cuban Missile Crisis by placing American missiles in Turkey and provoking the U.S.S.R., thus causing them to place missiles in Cuba in retaliation. Not to mention that JFK shouldn't have screwed up the Bay of Pigs.

[angus]

Anyway, what say you, uh, Atlas people?

Well, if Sienna says it, and Politico reports it, then it must be true.

Okay, actually Sienna College is a fine school.  I know its campus well.  (you there, John?  You prick.) 

On a serious note, any poll that ranks Obama anywhere except TBA has at least one serious fault.

[Ameriplan]

all i can say is, someone wants government grant money.

[angus]

all i can say is, someone wants government grant money.

who doesn't?  Of course Lonnstrom wants to get in on the dole.

Bear in mind, my comments come from someone who voted for Obama in 2008 and may (or may not) do so again in 2012, so it's not just some GOP dope who wants to take a dump on Obama.  Still, even if you can't find anyone, on the first day, who'll vouch for the benefits of chewing gum, it's easy enough to find "four out of five" who will recommend Trident "to their patients who chew gum."  Keep on knocking on doors and you'll eventually find enough people in some neighborhood who'll buy what you're selling.  I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with their alpha or their omega.  In fact, they called it pretty well.  I'm just advising caution here.  This is just 238 Americans, chosen in some way that was neither random nor unexpected, who are willing to step out on a limb and say that these are the Best Presidents of the United States, and who have sufficient credentials to allow the casual observer to reasonably consider them experts.  Take it all with at least 64.79891 milligrams of salt.

As for ranking any sitting president, you might as well scratch anything I said earlier, since the ranking suddenly has lost all credibility.  At least let the body start to cool before reading the will.

[Beet]

Ivan Eland has it right.

He has an interesting idea, but it is ruined by the fact that he cannot separate it from his own hackery. In fact, the idea itself probably originates from his hackery, which ruins it thoroughly. The worst type is those that act wonky but are actually hacks. It is the height of arrogance. He is another disappointment who only emphasizes the main problem with American punditry today.

[Brandon H]

So more confirmation that "presidential scholars" are idiots and hacks.

Their criteria for choosing good presidents consist of who killed the most people, impoverished the most families, and destroyed the most freedom.

If I was going by that criteria, FDR, Wilson, Lincoln, and Johnson would be my top 4.

Has any president actually increased freedom?

[??????????]

Has any president actually increased freedom?

Hm, maybe the early few did.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

The 1920's Republicans probably did.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

How the hell they can even rate an incumbent, who's less than 2 years in office?

[Derek]

I don't need a scholar to explain to me how Obama ranks when the unemployment rate is 9.5% and only that low because it doesn't include people not looking for work, we're attacked on our own soil even with the Homeland Security Act passed as was in Fort Hood, an oil spill that he mocks, and a pervert as a school czar. I hope others on this forum can see what's in front of their face too.

[Ameriplan]

How the hell they can even rate an incumbent, who's less than 2 years in office?

[TheGreatOne]

If Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover had been successful, the Republicans would have placed them in the top 5 Presidents in U.S. history.  These guys held the exact same policies as Reagan, except Hoover changed his beleifs when he saw that some of his Republican economic policies were hurting the United States.  My point is that we judge our Presidents by things they had no control over.  Reagan didn't create a good economy by lowering taxes.  That's a myth beleived by people who think lowering taxes has major effects on our economy.   Our best economy was during the 1960s, when taxes were at 70% or higher.  There are other factors that effect our economy like the availability of credit, war and the regulation or deregulation of certain areas of our economy.

[CultureKing]

If Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover had been successful, the Republicans would have placed them in the top 5 Presidents in U.S. history.  These guys held the exact same policies as Reagan, except Hoover changed his beleifs when he saw that some of his Republican economic policies were hurting the United States.  My point is that we judge our Presidents by things they had no control over.  Reagan didn't create a good economy by lowering taxes.  That's a myth beleived by people who think lowering taxes has major effects on our economy.   Our best economy was during the 1960s, when taxes were at 70% or higher.  There are other factors that effect our economy like the availability of credit, war and the regulation or deregulation of certain areas of our economy.

This one, also many people fail to realize that the policies of a president often don't have their full effect until after their term has expired.

[TheGreatOne]

Since the professorial field is overwhelmingly liberal Democrat, these findings are worthy of an eye roll and nothing more.  Anyone who thinks Bill Clinton was a better President than Ronald Reagan needs their head examined.  Obama in the top 15?  Lol.

Reagan was a sh**t President.  If he was a Democrat, the Republicans would have cut him down for spending so much during his administration in a peace-time economy.  His intervention in the middle east also caused alot of the major problems that we are dealing with today.  He gave Iraq the chemical weapons that the Bush Administration complained about, and supported Saddam's invasion of Iran and genocide of the kurds.  He also traded weapons to Iran for hostages.  His economic success were caused by the invention of the credit card, which became big in the 1980s.  

My top ten: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Polk, Wilson, and Madison.


Honorable mention:  Monroe

Overated Presidents: Washington, Reagan, JFK, and Lyndon Johnson

[Lunar]

Since the professorial field is overwhelmingly liberal Democrat, these findings are worthy of an eye roll and nothing more.  Anyone who thinks Bill Clinton was a better President than Ronald Reagan needs their head examined.  Obama in the top 15?  Lol.

Or maybe they're more likely to be liberal because they know and understand history, whereas conservatives are, as the old saying goes, just doomed to repeat it?

And Lunar tries to tell me that Liberalism is not inherently arrogant. Thanks badger, I am trully grateful for you help in proving me right.  

How did I get dragged into this?

I think it's ridiculous to include a present administration in this poll, although perhaps not, as although modern opinions would be pretty useless for us, they could be useful for historians in a few decades to come back and analyze.  

These ratings, it should be said, are partially based on the scope of the challenges and major hurdles that a president has had to face.  FDR gets ranked high because he's viewed as having successfully tackled both a Depression and a World War.

[sentinel]

Where the hell is President Polk?

[Bo]

Where the hell is President Polk?

#12.

[TheGreatOne]

Where the hell is President Polk?

#12.

Polk should be in the top 10.

[Хahar 🤔]

Kennedy was terrible. He should be around 30.