Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Evaluating Presidencies

Historian Thomas Fleming made me smile yesterday when I read his WSJ piece entitled "Was George W. Bush the Worst President?" Fleming cites a few examples from history that make Dubya look pretty good.

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson actually walked off the job, not to return, for the whole last year of his second term? His successor, James Madison, "watched while 4500 British troops disembarked from their ships, marched to Washington D.C., and burned down the White House and the Capital!" Woodrow Wilson referred to Irish Americans as "loud-mouthed micks" for objecting to his pro-British policies. President Harding "had a concealed box at the Gayety Burlesque Theater where he spent many afternoons and nights." FDR tried to deal with economic problems by making government bigger and bigger, while inflation and unemployment kept getting worse and worse, until World War II. Jimmy Carter lectured us about our "crisis of spirit," while not having a clue about what to do about the economy or the Iranians.

Fleming concluded that Bush, like many of the presidents mentioned above, will be remembered positively for many of his accomplishments, but will have those kudos balanced off with some of his failures. The picture will be clearer in fifteen or twenty years.

1 comment:

Terri Wagner said...

I think that's a pretty easy call to make frankly. The interesting thing to me as a person with a history degree is how we so often judge others by the standards of our day. Personally I'd love it if Obama would walk off the job for the next 3-1/2 years, ha.