Feb 16 2009
C-SPAN Ranks the Presidents! George W. Bush is No. 1! (Disclaimer: George W. Bush May Not Actually Be At No. 1)
Well, it’s Presidents’ Day again, so you know what that means: Another pointless ranking of the POTUS’s. A new list has just been released based on a C-SPAN survey of historians.
Here is the list of presidents who made the Top Ten.
10. Reagan
9. Wilson
8. Eisenhower
7. Jefferson
6. Kennedy
5. Truman
4. T. Roosevelt
3. F.D. Roosevelt
2. Washington
1. Carter
Shocked you, didn’t it? Hope you older readers didn’t have cardiac arrest. Okay, here is the REAL number one. Oh, what the hell, I’ll just tell you. It’s Abraham Lincoln, if you couldn’t already guess.
And now here’s the list of the Bottom Ten, also known as the Ed Wood Presidential List.
33. Hayes
34. Hoover
35. Tyler
36. George Walker Richard Cheney Bush (Wow, what a long-ass name!)
37. Fillmore
38. Harding
39. W.H. Harrison
40. Pierce
41. A. Johnson
42. Buchanan (James, not Pat)
William Jefferson Clinton, also known as our first black president thanks to an obviously colorblind Toni Morrison, came in at No. 15. Jimmy Carter, whose name I used to play a practical joke on y’all, was appropriately placed at No. 25.
I agree with much of the list, although I would have put George Washington at No. 1. I just hope Dorris Kearns Goodwin’s bundle of toilet paper, modestly titled Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, didn’t influence the judges’ decision regarding Honest Abe’s place on the list. Lincoln would be my personal No. 2, by the way.
Kennedy has no business being in the Top Ten since he died early and really wasn’t that great when he was alive, and Harding, from what I know of his accomplishments, shouldn’t be in the Bottom Ten. They should take his name out and put Lyndon Johnson’s in his place.
Kudos to the judges for putting Eisenhower in the Top Ten. In this Animal’s opinion, the general was the greatest president of the Cold War, NOT Reagan or Truman, as conservatives and liberals like to claim.
As for our latest ex-president, I think his ranking may be too premature. Give it a couple years and maybe he’ll rise to No. 42.
I think Teddy Roosevelt of the Bull Moose party should be ranked higher….
they named teddy bears after him - come on!!!
I definitely agree with you on Washington. He kicked the redcoats’ asses, predicted political parties would lead to the end of our nation, and above all else, he was humble. Most of what I’ve recently heard about Lincoln leads me to believe that he is defined more by his times than his terms in office. Many historians now claim that abolishing slavery was more of a tactical move than a step towards civil rights.
But why no love for William Henry Harrison?
I like the line, “He’ll rise to no. 42″ Harding’s rating might be about Teapot Dome… just a guess. I am learning to love Ike as president. His warnings about Empire, although not heeded, were right on. ~k
Reagan and Bush should be on the very bottom. Two of the worst presidents in history.
I don’t know who writes these lists, but I would certainly rank them differently!