This video doesn't take a political stance. it simply talks about how obama was able to find success in implementing changes in areas that have traditionally been hard for POTUS's to break from the norm. that's going to have a big impact on Obama's legacy
I've never seen in my lifetime (and I've been interested in politics since JFK was president) a newly-elected president keep so many campaign promises in his first month in office.
I look at that list and all it tells me is that you can be rated as a top president all time if you just come into office in some kind of crisis and when it's resolved (often not due to the abilities of the president) then you can be considered an all-time great president.
Having Lincoln at number 1 is a joke even if we take the oversimplified, jingoisitc, comic-book look at the Civil War. He got into a war against a much weaker opponent and it took him 5 years and 600,000+ American lives to do it.
(02-17-2017 04:54 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote: I saw Carter ahead of Coolidge. That totally invalidates this right there.
I mean he sure as **** has some serious drawbacks considering he basically saw the great depression coming.
(02-17-2017 05:02 PM)EigenEagle Wrote: I look at that list and all it tells me is that you can be rated as a top president all time if you just come into office in some kind of crisis and when it's resolved (often not due to the abilities of the president) then you can be considered an all-time great president.
Having Lincoln at number 1 is a joke even if we take the oversimplified, jingoisitc, comic-book look at the Civil War. He got into a war against a much weaker opponent and it took him 5 years and 600,000+ American lives to do it.
you are doing a massive disservice to Lincoln. he was ranked #1 all three times.
in 1860 our greatest military asset was West Point. we barely had an Army but we had terrific generals. a good general went a long way in those days and as long as we had them all we needed to do was build an army and the generals would put it to good use. The south took the best generals and history shows the consequences. Yes the North had every other economic advantage but not the desperation/threat of invasion that would allow full deployment of said resources, but it was a hard fought war.
not to mention politics. the way he handled slavery given the circumstances is a massive accomplishment. he also presided over the greatest legislative era of american history. land grant college, homstead act, trans-continental railroads, income tax, legal tender-act. he is perhaps the master political statesman of perhaps any POTUS in what he was able to accomplish. not to mention his reconstruction views were probably the best.
then when we get to his legacy. he united this country into one single country, saved the union, and ended political gridlock. he truly is the reason we are a super power. oh and he ended the worst "institution" that ever existed on american soil.
