Posted on 07/01/2010 11:44:22 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Profs rank Obama 15th best president By: Emily Schultheis July 1, 2010 01:29 PM EDT
A new poll of leading presidential scholars ranks Barack Obama as the 15th best president of the United States, just below Bill Clinton but ahead of Ronald Reagan.
The Siena College poll, which surveyed 238 presidential scholars at U.S. colleges and universities, asked scholars to rate the nations 43 chief executives on 20 attributes ranging from legislative accomplishments to integrity and imagination.
In the overall ranking, Obama rated two places below Clinton, who was 13th best, and three better than Reagan, who is ranked as the 18th best.
Franklin D. Roosevelt again earned the top spot, as he has every time since the poll was first conducted in 1982. He and the Mount Rushmore presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson have consistently been the top five presidents in the polls findings.
Obamas 15th ranking is slightly higher than other presidents who have taken office since the poll started nearly 30 years ago. Most start out at about number 20, said Siena statistics professor and poll director Douglas Lonnstrom.
[Obamas] doing a little better, but hes generally in the same ballpark, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dyn.politico.com ...
DING, DING, DING! We have a winner!
According to those professors, all US presidents would rank several points lower if the Soviet Leaders were included.
It would start out: 1. Stalin 2. Khrushchev 3. Brezhnev
Happy in their insulated oblivion.
Just more proof that higher education dos not necessarily make you smart!
Just more proof that higher education does not necessarily make you smart!
“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
- Ronaldo Maximus
Most Presidents are of above-average intelligence or they would never be in a position to be serious contenders for the job to begin with. The media and academics created the myth of GWB's stupidity about 1999 and have been obsessed with it ever since--even though Bush's grades were comparable to Gore's and Kerry's (perhaps slightly better than Kerry's), and Bush wasn't focussed on getting the best grades possible while at Yale.
It's possible that Obama would score higher on an IQ than GWB, I don't know--but I see Obama as lazy and disengaged, whereas Bush was very hardworking, so he had a better understanding of the issues than Obama, who doesn't want to hear anything that is at odds with his own prejudices.
I wonder how they selected these "Presidential scholars" from the much larger pool of professors who teach US history--on the basis of donations to Democratic candidates?
Oh the liberals love playing games with your grades. I hated university. I got either A’s or D’s depending on the prof. Nothing in between.
Wait, was corruption and incompetence one of the factors in determining this list?
I’m not sure if I should laugh or vomit.
This is sad on two fronts; 1) it is 100% wrong, and, 2) it gives credibility to the adage that “Those that can, DO, and those that can’t, Teach”.
Those who can’t, teach.
#15 is a little high, but, I will admit that the Zero is in the top 50.
Acadumbia Clown Factory comedy gold.
I agree. I use the amnesty, largest tax increase in US up until that time etc when comparing Reagan to G.W. Bush who I think was the best US President post WWII and it really is not that close a call.
Unfortunately as long as those who were old enough to vote in 2000 are writing the history books, they will be anti-Bush. The liberal historians will never forgive Bush for keeping Gore out of the White House, and they interpret all of the policy issues they disagree with GWB on as failings on his part.
The only positive thing about the poll is that by assigning such a ridiculously low figure to GWB it exposes how biassed and useless the rankings are.
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