Wednesday, February 18, 2009

In Your Face, Millard Fillmore!

Suck on this, Warren G. Harding!

Fillmore, Harding. More than just historical footnotes or cautionary tales. Now they are members of an exclusive club. Yes, even more exclusive than the club of 42 U.S. Presidents. They are now 2 of just 6 presidents deemed by historians to be worse than The Idiot.

I know, I know. There were presidents that were actually worse? 6 of them? And the country survived?

Well, one of them was Andrew Johnson, who was universally reviled and impeached by congress, who reviled him even more than most. Another was James Buchanan, who essentially caused the Civil War by sitting on his hands while Southern states seceded, and couldn't even use the highest office in the land to get himself a date. And, of course, William Henry Harrison, who croaked a month after his inauguration.

So, he's better than the absolute worst people that have run our country. But not by much. Can't wait for the next poll, which will come out after even more of his administration's horrible misdeeds see the light of day.

He did best in Crisis Leadership, in which Our Hero was deemed, well, slightly below average. Not so good in Economic Management, where he only beat Herbert Hoover (whose Depression-causing policies are now being pimped by the GOP, by the way, ha ha) and Mr. Buchanan. Or International Relations, where only "One-Month Willie" Harrison was worse. Yikes.

But don't worry about history's judgment. We'll all be dead.

6 comments:

Kizz said...

What could Harrison possibly have had time to do?!?!?

MAB said...

Nothing, really. But if you ask me, we'd be much better off if GWB had done nothing for 8 years rather than doing what he did.

Mrs. Chili said...

I think it's interesting that Abraham Lincoln ends up at or very near the top of so many lists. I wonder if our impression of him is not a little skewed...

Kizz said...

I think the thing about Lincoln is that his actions were unpopular in the extreme at the time but in retrospect were right for the country. He also got lucky since most of the seceding didn't happen on his watch but did further his goals in a way.

MAB said...

Lincoln was reviled by many, and not just in the south. He also suspended habeas corpus, which was one of the worst affronts to the constitution in the history of the nation.

And Truman wasn't exactly popular at the time, either.

This is the argument that GWB is making about history vindicating him. I don't think it's going to fly, but right now everyone hates him and, I think, rightly so. I can't see him moving up in the ranks. At least not with the voluminous video evidence of his utter stupidity to remind people.

Kizz said...

Yeah, perhaps with video Lincoln and Truman wouldn't be doing so well. YouTube is an achilles heel.