The poll was on the most influential president in the history of America, you could choose any president in history from George Washington to George W. Bush. I, being a conservative, chose Ronald Reagan and pressed the results button. The top six appeared on the screen, they were as follows: 1) George Washington, 2) Abe Lincoln, 3) Franklin Roosevelt, 4) Bill Clinton 5) Ronald Reagan, 6) George W. Bush
"That's nice, but what's the point?" you ask. You probably think that I'm upset at Reagan's fifth place showing, a little but not much. The thing that really stuck out to me was the ignorance (or downright stupidity) of the people voting in the poll, why was Clinton in fourth place? Why was he even on the list?
It's not just because I'm a conservative who thinks Bill Clinton the second worst president of all time. I just don't see what Clinton did to rank him that high, you may like Clinton, but if you can show me one thing he did that was a big benefit to our country please comment.
Washington had the distinction of being the first, his decisions had a huge influence on what the fledgling US would do. Lincoln guided the great ship of state through the turbulent Civil War. FDR (who I wouldn't have ranked so high, but I digress) got America through World War II. Reagan came into office with a demoralized America, they had suffered Vietnam, Watergate, Gerald Ford and the almost killing blow of Jimmy Carter as president; yet America became a proud nation during Reagan's term. George W. Bush had the strength and integrity that helped us rebuild our shattered country in the wake of September 11, 2001 and to lead us to victory over the Taliban.
In the midst of these great men stands a saxophone former governor of Arkansas and what has he done to warrant this rank? Absolutely nothing.
4 comments:
Ick. That is pretty sad. But you should remember that most of the people who fill out those kinds of things are probably schoolchildren. They hear about Washington, Lincoln and FDR in school and they remember Bush and Clinton. I don't think it's symbolic of any kind of national movement to rank Bill Clinton in the top five as much as it is the result of a new generation not knowing any presidents. Myself, I rank the top five including men like Monroe, Jackson and Adams, always a way to ensure your isolation from the world at large. :-) I am so jealous you got to go to Washington though.
well, we were there with many of these school children, believe me.....the teachers weren't too impressive. While approaching the Veitnam War Memorial, I overheard a teacher telling some of her high school girls that it is required that they do a rubbing of a name on the Wall. So one girl sincerely asks her "What is Veitnam, anyway?"
:::just as an aside here, wouldn't you think a field trip to D.C. with a requirement of getting a rubbing off the wall of the Veitnam War Memorial would have prompted a bit of discussion-if not down right teaching- on *what* Veitnam was?:::
I'm sure the girl still doesn't know. I can't remember exactly how the conversation went but it was pretty lame and I didn't feel like the teacher really knew either. I sympathize with the girl, I went to school during the Veitnam War and the only thing I remember learning about it in school was the shape of the country- not where it was in the world, what other countries were near it, just an outline map of Veitnam. I'm sure our teacher taught us some content about the war and the whys, but it was ages ago and I can't remember that but I do remember being nervous about having to place this country in a larger map of the world(probably somewhere near Germany?!?!)I knew the shape but "where in the world" it went I knew not. Isn't school great? I learned so much homeschooling my kids!
People have short memories, so that's why there are relatively a lot of recent presidents.
Clinton had the largest budget surplus, did'nt he?
economy was doing good
and maybe choosing for bill clinton is the best, is an other way of saying that george bush jr. was the worst (and maybe also vice versa)
and I hope Veitnam is a typo
I said short memories, but 'don't know that much about history'would be better
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