C-SPAN recently released a new
survey ranking
all the American presidents from 1 through 44. (Biden, as he is still in
office whether he knows it or not, is not yet ranked.) The survey of 142 mostly
left-leaning historians, academicians and “professional observers” of the
presidency, a 50-percent increase in those polled just since 2017, reflected a
“new diversity in race, gender, age and philosophy” according to CSPAN.org.
Well, maybe not in philosophy, CSPAN. The “experts” ranked the
presidents on 10 characteristics of leadership, including “moral authority.”
Speaking of which, Donald Trump was
ranked last for moral authority, well below Richard Nixon and famous
prevaricator Bill Clinton, who was also charged with committing perjury and
obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Preposterous.
Also preposterous was the
historians’ and observers’ ranking Barack Obama, who despised the nation he led
to such an extent that he attempted to “fundamentally change” it, as one
of the best presidents, coming in at number 10. This is like saying
Bob Uecker was a better baseball player than Willie Mays, Javaris
Crittenton was a better basketball player than Michael Jordan or Larry Bird,
and that Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan was a better navigator than Charles
Lindbergh. It’s like averring that Timothy
McVeigh was a more accomplished veteran than George Washington (#2 in the
CSPAN rankings) or Dwight D. Eisenhower (#4 in the CSPAN rankings). Obama,
ranked #12 in 2017 and #10 in 2021, will surely be ranked #1 by the time the
survey is taken in, say, 2033, surpassing Lincoln and Washington.
Trump (number 41 overall) was also
ranked far below Jimmy “I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times” Carter
who presided over years of stagflation and “malaise,” yet somehow came in 26th.
The elite presidential minds ranked
Lyndon Baines Johnson (#11) and Woodrow Wilson (#13) well ahead of Calvin
Coolidge (#24). LBJ, who reportedly often wielded his Johnson to stunned
reporters and other onlookers alike, firmly ensconced the U.S. in Vietnam while
initiating trillions of dollars in spending to eliminate poverty, the level of
which is essentially the same today as it was all those years—and trillions of
dollars—ago. Woodrow Wilson was a sanctimonious, classical racist who likewise
wanted to grow government at the expense of the individual. Conversely,
Coolidge was a down-to-earth, self-deprecating man who granted citizenship to
all of the Native American residents in the United States so that they could
remain in the country with their rights to tribal land intact. He believed in
the Founding principle of limited government and that the people knew best how
to govern themselves.
Interestingly, and illustrative of the
change in Democratic values over time, the experts ranked Franklin Delano
Roosevelt (#3) ahead of the supposed founder of the Democratic Party, Thomas
Jefferson (#7). FDR attempted to pack the court and skirt the Constitution. He
dramatically—if ineffectively—expanded the size of government and interned
Japanese-Americans. His policies aimed at lessening the effects of the Great
Depression only exacerbated them and extended the misery. Jefferson, on the
other hand, was the greatest champion of individual rights in the history of the
world. The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, both a result
of his presidency, literally made it possible for the United States to
become…the United States…at least as we know them today. And a world power.
Finally, I would note that the survey
ranked Bill Clinton’s presidency just above that of Ulysses S. Grant’s.
Grant defeated the South and destroyed the Klan (KKK). Clinton may have
destroyed his clan, too, but only those that had dirt on him. Both enjoyed
cigars, but in vastly different ways. Grant liked them in his own orifices.
Grant placed the good of his country
above anything else. Much like Lincoln, Washington, Reagan, Coolidge… and
Trump. No matter what the “experts” wish us to believe.
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