Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Kotz / Politics / Presidential Politics Historians: George W. Not the Worst President Ever
Posted by Pete Kotz on Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 5:21 AM
While Abe Lincoln is considered the best, Bush came in 36th -- ahead of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison and Warren G. Harding. But as C-SPAN is quick to note, the rankings tend to shift over the years as present-day concerns change the way our leaders are perceived.
At least Bush's improved his ranking from a few weeks ago, when Pith's resident presidential scholar Matt Sullivan had him tied for fifth worst of all time.
Comments (5)
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It's kind of crazy to rank W.H. Harrison as one of the worst, seeing as how he was president for less than two months. His biggest policy mistake was not wearing a warm coat on inauguration day, which kind of pales beside the invasion of Iraq.
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I am definitely not a fan of Bush, but as a historian I have to say that this "worst in history" question that is regularly trotted out in the media blurs an essential line between current events and history. Any "historian" who claims to know where Bush ranks historically is bullshitting you. Historians need temporal perspective (usually at least 50 years but not always) to truly judge the significance of past events and people, Bush's reign is still too new to be judged this way.
To anyone 50 or 100 years from now who tries to make a claim George W. Bush wasn't a walking disaster as president, I would say this (if I could): Bullshit. You didn't have the misfortune of living through it. I did. Don't tell me it wasn't so bad, sonny. I know better. I was there.
And regardless of the state of Iraq in the future, the lies that preceded the invasion will be the same lies they were then. Passage of time will not alter that.
I hear you, Marvin. It's hard to imagine anyone being worse. But I think the point David's making is that the standards of judgment change over time. I can imagine almost everyone in 1974 believed Nixon was the worst president of all-time. But compare him to Bush, and we'd probably both take Nixon in a heartbeat today. Besides, another 50 years gives us a lot of opportunities to elect more creeps, sociopaths, and half-wit trust funders.
