Best ... President ... Ever

No, I'm not talking about the chimp, and if you really thought I was you should give yourself a good smack in the back of the head. But it's still an interesting question to pose - who was the best president? Polling giant Gallup asked that question recently and got some interesting results, though "puzzling" might be a better word.

I can only assume from the results that the majority of the respondents were providing answers which attempted to bolster their side in the current, vicious, red/blue divide in our country. Coming in at numbers one and two respectively were Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. (20% and 15%) Leading the rest of the pack were Lincoln (14%) followed by FDR and JFK. (Both with 12%) It was somewhat heartening to see that, even with the current surge in bitter, partisan neocon war hawks, they could only find 5% that would dare speak Bush 43's name in response.

Seriously now... Reagan was certainly adored by his supporters, and even tolerated as a "really nice guy" by a fair number of his opponents. But... the best? Hardly. I think that answer just reflected the desire of Republicans to find a name from their lifetimes that best represented the conservative agenda. And Clinton? Come on... what were you Democrats thinking? Yes, he kept the nation at peace, presided over a huge economic boom and left us with the first budget surplus in something like a million years, but really now. You'd put him above Lincoln and Washington?

Teddy Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson only got 2% each, and Ike received a lonely 1%. Granted, Ike was leader during the salad days when the country was, at long last, entering a period of peace and seeing a boom in both population and prosperity which has not been seen since. They didn't call them the "happy days" for nothing. So I suppose you could say he wasn't that "great" since he really didn't face much in the way of challenges or crisis. But he was still immensely popular and I'm shocked that he didn't rank higher.

A more interesting question which I wish they had asked would be, "Who was the worst president ever?" Even ignoring the disastrous economy, the lies and scandals, etc., based solely on Iraq a case can certainly be made to say that Dubya would win that title. He would have some strong competition though. Grant presided over what was arguably the most corrupt administration in our country's history, and he was allegedly drunk the entire time he held office. You-know-who would doubtless make the list for ushering in the depression, though history has shown us that it really wasn't all his fault and there was likely not much he could have done to prevent it. But rising above the entire rogue's gallery of bad leaders, George W. Bush might still take the cake.