JMHO Loc: Utah

Apparently it’s not just conservatives who have some serious doubts about the legacy of the Obama administration.

In honor of President’s Day 2105, the left of center Brookings Institute recently held a survey of American Political Science Association scholars and asked them to rank President Obama among the other Presidents. I’d say that the folks at the Brookings Institute (and in the White House) were likely surprised and upset by what they learned from these P**********l scholars.

While President Obama somehow makes #18 on the list, the underlying data tells a much bleaker story for the President.

Those who view Obama as one of the worst American presidents outnumber those who view him as one of the best by nearly a 3-1 margin. Similarly, nearly twice as many respondents view Obama as over-rated than do those who consider him under-rated. One area where there is significant expert consensus about the president, however, concerns how polarizing he is viewed as being - only George W. Bush was viewed as more a more polarizing president.

Next, Obama does not perform well on more specific dimensions of p**********l greatness, often viewed as average or worse. For example, he is the midpoint in terms of both personal integrity and military sk**l (e.g., 10th of 19 in both categories), but falls to 11th when it comes to diplomatic sk**l and 13th with respect to legislative sk**l.

The survey analysis notes something particularly interesting – President Obama entered office amid ridiculously high expectations. The analysis notes that only President Lyndon Johnson (who was sworn in after the assassination of President Kennedy) entered the rankings amidst greater expectation. While the Brookings analysis fails to see a correlation, I wonder if this hasn’t helped keep the President’s numbers artificially inflated.

Also, President Obama is seen as the most polarizing President (after President George W. Bush), but one must also wonder if this has more to do with media pressure than with reality. Under President Bush Congress was far more likely to reach compromise than they have been under President Obama. While Democrats may argue that this has everything to do with obstructionist Republicans, it seems to me that the reality is that the legislation being pushed under Obama has been far more liberal than legislation under Bush was conservative.

Conservatives feel President Obama has been polarizing for the legislation that he has pushed – President Bush was “polarizing” because of the War in Iraq and the war on terror in general.

President Bush is perceived as polarizing, but the things that were polarizing about President Bush have simply continued under President Obama. The War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, NSA Spying, Executive Orders, Military Tribunals - all of President Bush’s “worst crimes” have simply been continued (and sometimes even expanded) under President Obama.

So if President Bush was “polarizing” for these things… how is it that President Obama has been allowed by liberals to continue with the same habits?

I believe that President Obama’s popularity numbers are artificially inflated by bias – from the media and from liberals – and that even though his numbers are pretty bad as things stand, they should actually be much worse. It’s my contention that President Obama is very likely among the 5 worst Presidents our nation has endured, and this survey from a liberal think tank only strengthens my belief in that assumption.

By Onan Coca

Ricko Loc: Florida

JMHO-Obama has disgraced the Office of the Presidency to the extent that he is no longer taken seriously by anyone except the kool aid drinkers who have been brainwashed. The man is totally incompetent and is clearly dangerous to the security of the country. Can this country take 2 more years of this ? Good Luck America !!!