Where Will Barack Obama Rank in History?

I think it depends how obamacare turns out. If it eventually becomes the single payer system I think he will rank super high, but if it fails then I would say he would rank low. I think Obamacare is the single most important piece of legislation passed since LBJ.

 

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytime...g-obamas-place-in-history-statistically/?_r=0

A very nice data-driven view on this question.

 

the rankings are subjective, every President faces a different set of challenges and opportunities and presides over a unique set of circumstances.

That's why we need a playoff.

 

Some where in the middle.

 

There really ought to be a revival of MTV's Celebrity Death Match for questions like these.

 

all we'll remember is the partisan gridlock he created and our perpetual lurch from crisis to crisis. We'll also have to pay dearly for all the debt he amassed.

He was unqualified for the position in the first place and has been in over his head since day 1.

 

Nobel prize and Obamacare.

top 5.

 

most authentic rendition of Blurred Lines wins my vote.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hU3CYs77Ku4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

...oh no bill, you DID IT AGAIN

 

*giggles* on both. What a joke on the Nobel, and Obamacare will become a bloated entitlement program that will strain our budget for decades to come

 

HISTORY WILL BE KIND

to george w bush jr.

 

li'l t, I think you misunderstood the question. We're not talking about how Obama will be ranked by the wingnutteratti who use Conservapedia and take their kids to the Creationist museum. We're talking about legitimate historians and scholars.

 

People actually think he will be in the 1-5 range? Please put the crack pipe down folks.

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Barack Obama??????

 

I LOL'd

funniest thing I've seen in a month

 

if you're a poor person

1.obama
2.clinton
3.carter
4.lyndon johnson

 

This is one of those polls where you can ignore the top and bottom poll answers. He's not in the top nor bottom 5.

 

At the moment I would put him in the middle. As others have said a lot of this depends on how the ACA ends up but just taking everything as of now I think he is just above the mean for US presidents. His big achievements are in getting ACA and the stimulus while on foreign policy OBL was killed on his watch. He was able to rally international support for going into Libya without losing American lives, signed an arms control treaty with Russia and he has withdrawn US troops from Iraq. Also Obama's election as the first non-white US President cannot be discounted and is a watershed moment in US history.

At the same time though he has several failures. He has failed to deliver on signature issues of gun control, immigration and campaign finance reform. The amount of money in campaigns as exploded under Obama's watch and Obama himself is partly to blame for that given how much money he raised and spent in his two elections. On national security he failed to close GITMO or make substantial progress in Afghanistan. Further he has backtracked on pledges to increase transparency in the US government while also continuing (and in some cases expanding) surveillance. His foreign policy frequently seems haphazard and reactive to events rather than proactive.

Finally while Obama isn't responsible for this the amount of partisanship and divisiveness of both government and culture has gotten worse under Obama. While it is too much to expect for Obama to be able to single handedly change this great presidents were able to overcome entrenched opposition. Consider that there was very deep opposition from the Republicans of his day to FDR's policies yet he was still able to forge the New Deal. Reagan faced an opposition Congress but was still able to enact profound change. Too often though Obama is not able to use the bully pulpit or his oratorical skills to win over, or at least marginalize, political opponents enough to accomplish more.

 

I would prefer not to answer this until about 6 weeks from now.

 

So basically your positives can be summarized as:
1) You hope Obamacare works out, but you're not sure if it will
2) Foreign policy: fortunately the Seals killed OBL, and the Iraqis kicked us out of their country
3) He's half white/half black

that is sad

 

We don't need to wait to see how people are feeling about the Republican party.


Gallup: GOP Favorability Plunges To Record Low