The Greatest President

This really saddens me.  It seems that America has no sense of history whatsoever.  Gallup recently did a poll of Americans asking them who the greatest president was, and this is what they came up with in the latest manifestation of the poll:

1. Ronald Reagan - 20%
2. Bill Clinton - 15%
3. Abraham Lincoln - 14%
4. Franklin D. Roosevelt - 12%
5. John F. Kennedy - 12%

Wow.  This just made me lose all respect for the intelligence of the average American.  Reagan and Clinton certainly should not be at the top of this list.  That simply shows how short the American attention span is.  Where is George Washington?  Does no one remember our first president?  Sadly, if you read the rest of the poll, you'll see that George Washington and the our current president come in at 5% each.  That's right, our first president, who defined the office and did more to set America on the right course than any other person, is tied with a president who misled the people into supporting an elective war and who has presided over the biggest shift from budget surplus to budget disaster ever.  Tied.  Unbelievable.

In case you're interested, the correct order (i.e. my opinion) for best U.S. presidents is:

1. George Washington
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt
3. Harry S. Truman
4. Abraham Lincoln
5. Teddy Roosevelt

Comments

[Robert Prather]

Kris,

That's three posts in a row where I mostly agree with you. In recent days that must count as some sort of record.

My list, off the top of my head:

1. Washington, for stepping aside and allowing a peaceful transition to happen at a time when it was unheard of.

2. Lincoln, for obvious reasons.

3. Truman, for posturing us to prosecute a four-decade Cold War.

4. Reagan, for playing a crucial role in ending said Cold War.

5. Jefferson. Not an obvious choice as greatest President -- greatest American, easily -- but he did use the presidential pardon as a check on Congress to free people convicted under the Alien & Sedition Acts. Unfortunately, that tradition has not carried on.

[h. coorab]

My top 5:

Washington
Lincoln
Clinton
FDR
Clinton

yeah, baby!