{"id":43320,"date":"2014-07-02T13:01:53","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T19:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/02\/worst-president-ever.html"},"modified":"2014-07-02T17:52:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T23:52:41","slug":"worst-president-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/02\/worst-president-ever.html","title":{"rendered":"Worst President Ever!"},"content":{"rendered":"
I hate these kind of polls. Any good historian will tell you that, until you get 50 years out from something, historical judgment, even from experts, is rubbish. Too much memory clouding things, too much nostalgia or recalled anger, partisanship, or anything like that. And too much focus on the little things (or what will come to be seen as little things), vs. the contributions to major patterns (good and ill) that developed after their terms were up. And, of course, there's not enough information — presidential papers, including some key ones, tend to be kept locked down for decades.<\/p>\n

If you twisted my arm (probably not very hard), I'd probably name Dubya as that individual deserving that title — but I wouldn't give more than even money that historians a century or two from now will agree.<\/p>\n

Reshared post from +Jeremy Nixon<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a new Quinnipiac poll out saying a plurality of voters think Barack Obama is the worst president since World War II.<\/b><\/p>\n

OMG everybody freak out! It\u2019s confirmed! He\u2019s terrible!<\/p>\n

Or, you know, not. What good is a poll like this? Gee, I wonder why most people chose either Barack Obama or George W. Bush. I wonder why Democrats and Republicans each chose the guy from the other party. Why do you suppose, when the question was asked during the Bush years, Bill Clinton was a popular choice for \u201cworst\u201d, but now only 3% say so?<\/p>\n

Do we really think the poll respondents, familiar with the records of all twelve post-war presidents, carefully weighed the historical factors and made a reasoned choice?<\/p>\n

Look at my name: I share a surname with one of those presidents. Years ago, upon hearing my name, the usual reaction was \u201chey, any relation?\u201d Now, people younger than about 50 ask me how to spell it, and if I tell them \u201clike the president\u201d, they look at me as though I\u2019ve grown a second head. I try to clarify, but they have no earthly idea who I\u2019m talking about.<\/i><\/p>\n

These are the people you\u2019re asking who was the worst post-war president. At a bare minimum, answers should only be counted from people who can name<\/i> all of the post-war presidents.<\/p>\n

This is a poll designed for viral headlines.<\/b> It has no real value.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.quinnipiac.edu\/news-and-events\/quinnipiac-university-poll\/national\/release-detail?ReleaseID=2056<\/a>\ufeff<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

View this post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hate these kind of polls. Any good historian will tell you that, until you get 50 years out from something, historical judgment, even from experts, is rubbish. Too much memory clouding things, too much nostalgia or recalled anger, partisanship, or anything like that. And too much focus on the little things (or what will … Continue reading “Worst President Ever!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,12,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-fourth-estate","category-history"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/obama-carter-clinton-bush.jpg.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130351,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/02\/looks-like-a-beautiful-day-probably-a-good-day-to.html","url_meta":{"origin":43320,"position":0},"title":"Looks like a beautiful day! Probably a good day to","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 2-Apr-16 5:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"... work on the basement, which is still a compacted and 2\/3 inaccessible mess from the remodel.Oh, boy!(Where this keeps coming up -- which is probably something for me to note -- is when I'm looking for a DVD I know we have -- and realize it's in a crate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127878,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/09\/01\/rt-shakespeare-if-the-play-is-named-after-thee-thou-art-probably-a-goner-if-tis-named-after-someone-else-be-not-so-cocky-he-wont-die-alone.html","url_meta":{"origin":43320,"position":1},"title":"RT @Shakespeare If the play is named after thee, thou art probably a goner.If ’tis named after someone else, be not so cocky: he won’t die alone.","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 1-Sep-15 1:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"RT @Shakespeare If the play is named after thee, thou art probably a goner. If 'tis named after someone else, be not so cocky: he won't die alone. View on Twitter","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131496,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/11\/trump-declares-i-think-this-will-be-the-last-election-if-i-dont-win.html","url_meta":{"origin":43320,"position":2},"title":"Trump declares, "I think this will be the last election if I don’t win."","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 11-Sep-16 12:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"Because Hillary will legalize all the illegals! And flood the Supreme Court with four or five Bernie Sanders supporters! And change all the churches! And did I mention the illegals? And the churches?Well, that's what Donald Trump says, at least when he's speaking to the Christian Broadcasting Network:'I think it\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133808,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/06\/the-inconsistent-president.html","url_meta":{"origin":43320,"position":3},"title":"The Inconsistent President","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 6-Jul-17 10:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"Donald Trump on the \"Meddling\" in the 2016 Election:\u275d '\"I think it was Russia, I think it could have been other countries,\" Trump said. \"I won\u2019t be specific.\" He added: \"So it was Russia and it was probably others also, and that\u2019s probably been going on for a long period\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133956,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/26\/coke-zero-to-become-coke-zero-sugar-and-change-taste.html","url_meta":{"origin":43320,"position":4},"title":"Coke Zero to become Coke Zero Sugar (and change taste)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Jul-17 5:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"If I still drank diet sodas, I'd probably be upset by this, since Coke Zero was my go-to.No word yet on Sprite Zero changing, but, I hate to tell +Kay Hill, that's probably inevitable. Coke Zero Gets New Recipe, Changes Name To \u2018Coke Zero Sugar\u2019 Coca-Cola Zero \u2014 the drink\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131396,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/29\/the-fall-of-lucy.html","url_meta":{"origin":43320,"position":5},"title":"The Fall of Lucy","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 29-Aug-16 10:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It appears that Lucy, an Australopithecus afarensis and one of the most famous fossils in the world, died from a fall from a tree, based on highly detailed CT scans that found multiple unhealed fracture wounds in the fossilized bones.An unhappy end -- though few of her peers probably had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43330,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43320\/revisions\/43330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}