Is Obama One of Our Four Best Presidents?

My default setting for a good book is a biography, add a penchant for American history and you have someone who reads a lot of Presidential biographies.  I am up to 13 so far, and plan on covering every President before I die, God willing.  Naturally, it caught my attention when President Obama said he would put his administration up with the top four Presidents. 

             President Obama was clearly one of those children who were constantly told by his parents and grandparents that he was, “special.”  He was a special person; his parents were special people and everybody else, particularly people who didn’t think he was special, were wrong, jealous and possibly evil.  Such children grow up with an exaggerated sense of self.  We usually only see this syndrome in athletes or Hollywood stars, because politicians have to come up the hard way and there are lots of people to let them know just how, “not special” they are.  Of course Obama was plucked from the political shelf and hustled right through the express lane.  [Come to think of it, maybe he is special.]

            Well, let’s look at the 11 Presidents that both liberal and conservative historians consider our best and keep the Obama administration in mind as we do so.  I have stayed with just two accomplishments in the first term of each of these admirable men. 

George Washington, put together the best cabinet of any President as well as creating every standard for the office.  He mitigated the argument between Hamilton and Jefferson on how the Revolutionary War debt would be handled, and kept us out of the war between France and England. 

John Adams built up both the army and navy, and having the strength to defy the wishes of his cabinet refused to declare war with France.  He appointed John Marshall to the Supreme Court. 

Thomas Jefferson ended our payments to the Barbary Pirates to prevent seizure of our vessels, and then sent gun ships to reinforce our sovereignty.  He made the Louisiana Purchase and sent Lewis and Clark to explore the same.

Andrew Jackson supported states rights, but not to the point of allowing nullification of Federal laws, thus strengthening the Union.  He did away with the Bank of the United States and paid off the national debt.

Abraham Lincoln preserved the Union through consistent, principled and courageous leadership.  He prevented Britain from recognizing the Confederacy and passed the Emancipation Proclamation as law.

Theodore Roosevelt settled the United Mine Workers strike while taking on the largest, richest most influential companies of the day.  He built the Panama Canal and started the conservation movement, creating our first National Parks.

Woodrow Wilson created the Federal Reserve System, passed the Clayton Antitrust Act and may have had the most progressive administration of any President.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt used his, “first hundred days” to issue a plethora of executive orders instituting the New Deal.  He created the FDIC and the TVA.

Harry S Truman had the courage and broad enough shoulders to give the order to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, recognize Israel, and institute the Berlin airlift.

Dwight D. Eisenhower started the Interstate Highway System and expanded Social Security. 

Lyndon B. Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.    

Barrack Obama has the stimulus bills and health care reform, which, like Bin Laden, are shot full of holes. 

Have a little humility, and keep the faith.