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Sunday, July 4, 2010

Presidential ratings

OK, another summer, another listing of the presidents.

Siena College (I don't hear much about them, do you?) surveyed over 200 college professors for their opinions of the presidents. The authors of the study looked at
...:six personal attributes(background, imagination, integrity, intelligence, luck and willingness to take risks), five forms of ability (compromising, executive, leadership, communication and overall) and eight areas of accomplishment including economic, other domestic affairs, working with Congress and their party, appointing supreme court justices and members of the executive branch, avoiding mistakes and foreign policy.


I wonder what genius selected the areas to look at in this survey. Luck, compromising ability, working with Congress, appointing Supreme Court justices and executive branch members. Tell me professors, seeing you have little real world experience how does "compromising ability" and "appointing Supreme Court justices" show leadership and judgement. That crap about compromise reminds me of a real leader, Lady Thatcher, when she said "Consensus is the absence of leadership."

Now like any "objective" listing they will have "balance". For most listings that will mean 98% leftist/socialist, 1% avowed communist and one token McCain like moderate conservative to be balanced. Who are the top five and other highlights:

2010
1, F. Roosevelt
2. T. Roosevelt
3. Lincoln
4. Washington
5. Jefferson

OK, let me get this straight. Lincoln and Washington below Teddy Roosevelt. I'll call TR a great president but sorry man, but he doesn't belong in the breath of Lincoln or Washington. Both those men kept this country in one piece when it was ready to rip apart, none so badly as during Lincoln's (IMHO he is Number One) term. Hey professors, read a book on the Civil War. You might find that Lincoln had a challenge or two.

Now here are the some of the fun facts these geniuses show us with their rankings:

The current president, Barack Obama, while highly rated on imagination (6th), communication ability (7th) and intelligence (8th) scores poorly on background (family, education and experience) and enters the survey in the 15th position.


Imagination and communication ability...excuse me. Get this man-child away from a teleprompter he sounds like he needs his mommy to walk him to school. Intelligence? He's not qualified to run a cash register at a 7-11 but he thinks he can run our major industries.
George W. Bush, had entered the survey at 23rd when the study was lastconducted one year into his first term. Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president has found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication,ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence.

I have more than a few issues with George W Bush as president (overspending like a drunk Democrat, No Child Left Behind, the attempt at amnesty for illegal aliens) and I voted for him twice. But he showed great leadership after 9-11, lead this country through two wars and oversaw a major expansion of the economy. Putting him below Jimmy "Malaise" Carter says enough about this survey. On the subject of Jimmy:
Jimmy Carter, despite continuing visibility and philanthropic efforts, dropped from 25th in 2002 to 32nd in 2010. Carter’s high suit is his enviable integrity rating (7th) but he draws low marks for his handling of the economy, relationship with Congress, party leadership, luck, executive and leadership abilities and his failure to avoid crucial mistakes.

OK Doc, just one question. How would "continuing visibility and philanthropic efforts" affect his ranking as president at all? What you idiots should be looking at is what the man did during his time in office. Jimmy all in all was a disaster. I used to call him a Model Former President but he had become a bitter old man knowing his time in officer is looked back upon with contempt. He joins the ranks of Ex-Presidents who were just nightmares for this country...Obama is hopefully soon to join him.
Lyndon Johnson, rated number one for his relationship with Congress, fell one place from 15th to 16th, and John Kennedy climbed three spots from 14th to 11th. Kennedy continues to be highly regarded for his communication (4th), ability to compromise (6th), executive appointments (6th), imagination (7th) and his handling of the U.S. economy (7th).

LBJ, who is IMHO the worse man to ever occupy the office, drops a slot but still number one for ability to work with Congress. Pardon me while I puke. His ability to work lead to the death of over 58000 men (their names are on a wall in Washington DC) and he raided the Social Security Trust Fund to pay for his Great Society. In case you don’t know this docs that is why there is no money there. JFK was great on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the economy but overall his foreign policy was poor. A minor question professors you may want to ask is why was JFK in Dallas that morning. Because this great president was not a shoo in for the nomination and even LBJ couldn’t guarantee Texas would not abandon the ticket.

If you want a more balanced and better look at the presidents I recommend Presidential Leadership: Rating the Best and the Worst in the White House which came out in 2005. Unlike most rating schemes, it was actually balanced. It had 49 liberal professors and 49 conservative professors which gives you a more balanced view of our chief executives, not the leftist garbage that normally comes out from the fauty ivory towers.

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