Rating the Presidents (Part 7): Obama

This is part 7 of my ongoing series where I rate the presidents on multiple criteria. here are the links to previous parts:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6

After looking at all the presidents, how did Barack Obama do in the C-SPAN survey of historians? Here is the answer for each category, along with my own opinion of their view:

PUBLIC PERSUASION

The historians ranked Obama 10th here. I cannot argue with this assessment, as there is nobody below him who I would decisively rate higher. 

Obama sold the public a bill of goods, and they bought it. However, he had tons of help from the mainstream media, which took the b.s. he was shoveling and gold-plated it.

CRISIS LEADERSHIP

Obama ranked 15th on the survey, above what I consider to be much better presidents. The main one I saw was Gerald Ford in 24th place. Ford put an immediate end to Watergate by pardoning Nixon, as well as handling the end of the Vietnam War.

As for Obama, he mishandled Syria and Lybia, as well as the 2008 financial crisis. I won't call him the worst, but he was certainly mediocre. 

ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

Obama was 8th? His GDP growth was some of the lowest of recent times, and aided by the fact he took over after an economic collapse (nowhere to go but up!). Meanwhile, he left office with  more people out of work than when he entered, even after increasing the national debt more than any other president. He spent a lot of money for nothing.

Even worse, Obama rates above such economic luminaries as Ronald Reagan (16th), Calvin Coolidge (22nd), and Warren Harding (35th). That is just obscene, and displays the Keynesian bias of modern historians.

MORAL AUTHORITY

The C-SPAN survey said Obama was 7th best president in moral authority. My response;

Being well-intentioned doesn't equate to "moral authority". Openly lying to the American public as Obama did does not seem like a moral authority in my book. If it wasn't for the mainstream media conveniently overlooking Obama's lies and scandals, Obama would have been viewed with derision normally reserved for presidents like Jimmy Carter, who was at least honest.

And don't get me started on Obama's scandals like "fast and the furious", the IRS scandal, lying about the Libyan consulate, the idle "red line" Syria threats, and on and on.

For moral authority, I rate Obama slightly above Nixon.

Carter (at 14th place) was one of many presidents who should have rated higher than Obama. Among the others: Ronald Reagan (13th), Calvin Coolidge (21st), and Warren Harding (40th).

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Obama dropped significantly in the survey here, down to 24th. Even with this low rating, the historians are once again being far too kind.

Obama's major diplomatic achievement was the Iran treaty, which even he started to backtrack on before the end of his presidency.

With all the diplomatic goodwill Obama had entering the White House, he managed to squander all of it by the end. With enemies despising prior President Bush, and some of our allies (aside from the UK) looking sideways at him, Obama was welcomed by the world with open arms. By the end, most countries viewed him like they did Bush. Frankly, his diplomacy was comparable to Bush, except with Iran, where Obama made a meaningless agreement written in sand.

I would even rate Jimmy Carter (32nd) higher than Obama, because Carter managed to negotiate peace between Israel and Egypt.

(to be continued)