George Washington was just as good as Bill Clinton:

Another poll to help us achieve despair.  Best Presidents Ever:
5. (tie) George Washington, +15 points (16 percent place in top-2, 1 percent place in bottom-2)
5. (tie) Bill Clinton, +15 points (28 percent place in top-2, 13 percent place in bottom-2)
Man, that's depressing.

7 comments:

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Not to worry. The list is always Recent Presidents and Guys We Learned About In Fifth Grade. There is no meaning behind any of it.

bthun said...

"There is no meaning behind any of it."

Other than it was a poll of likely voters.

Texan99 said...

The Weekly Standard reports that likely voters think Obama is an even worse president than Carter. That's gotta sting.

bthun said...

Not if you're Jimmah...

Grim said...

It's the same poll, Tex.

What bothers me is the question of what makes someone great. If we exclude the recent presidents, on the grounds that they're being disproportionately favored just because they spring readily to mind, what an odd list:

1) Lincoln,
2) FDR,
3) JFK,
4) Washington.

What can such a ranking mean? Washington was clearly the greatest in my book, simply because he resisted the temptation of kingship and set the standard for relinquishment of power -- two things few men have done. His example is a shining one which informed and continues to inform the Republic.

Lincoln is a debatable #1, though; I get why some people would rank him there, even though I would tend to place him in the second spot. FDR? If you read the poll as "Presidents who had the biggest effect on America," then he belongs there.

JFK, though? Before Washington? Topping the list at all? He gave a couple of good speeches, and got us into Vietnam.

E Hines said...

JFK, though?...He gave a couple of good speeches, and got us into Vietnam.

He also folded on the Bay of Pigs, having neither the courage to wave it off altogether nor to see it through to the end.

And, according to some theories, he cowered under his desk while baby brother Bobby dealt with the Russians over the missiles.

He should be getting ranked with Carter and Obama.

Eric Hines

MikeD said...

He DID lower taxes. But come ON, it's not like he had all that much time. I mean, between romancing all those women and getting shot, he only had... what... a couple of months to govern?