AFP: Historians rank Lincoln best US president: "Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), the first US president George Washington (1789-1797) and New Deal architect Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) were ranked the top three out of the 42 men who have been the country's former chiefs, according to a survey by cable channel C-SPAN.
John F. Kennedy came in sixth, ahead of Ronald Reagan (10th) and Bill Clinton, who jumped to 15th from 21st during the last survey in 2000, when Lincoln also ranked first.
Of all modern presidents, Bush, who left office last month after an eight-year tenure, fared worst at 36th, nearly 10 spots behind Richard Nixon (27th), who was forced to resign in disgrace in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal."
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Interesting list. Can't argue with Lincoln and Washington. FDR is harder to rank. He dealt unflinchingly with world-shaking crises, but the way he restructured the presidency and the executive branch may still prove to be disastrous...and soon. How anybody can rate JFK as a great president has always eluded me. Start listing his accomplishments sometime and see what you come up with. The Bay of Pigs? No. That was a failure, an unnecessary and terrifying crisis that happened because he projected weakness in his dealings one-on-one with Khrushchev. He launched the Viet Nam war. But his support for science and restoration of a sense of national purpose proved to be enormously important.
Slick Willie does fine as usual. Whatever.
G.W. Bush lucked out if you ask me. He's fortunate they didn't create a special sub-basement for him. And if Obama keeps shoveling money we don't have at people who don't deserve it, and pretending we don't have enemies around the world, W will have company down there in a few years.
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