Historians Say 11 Presidents Were Better Than Obama

But he's still the best since Ronald Reagan: poll
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2017 4:24 PM CST
Historians Say 11 Presidents Were Better Than Obama
Barack Obama speaks during his final presidential news conference on Jan. 18, 2017.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Barack Obama was the best US president since Ronald Reagan, but he's got nothing on Abraham Lincoln. That's the takeaway from a C-SPAN survey of 91 historians who helped rank the best presidents in US history based on 10 criteria, including administrative skill, moral authority, crisis leadership, and pursuit of equal justice, per Time. Whereas Obama faltered in international relations, he scored high in managing the economy and public persuasion, coming in at the 12th spot overall, an "impressive" achievement for his first appearance in the survey, one historian tells CNN. The first 11:

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
  4. Theodore Roosevelt
  5. Dwight D. Eisenhower
  6. Harry S. Truman
  7. Thomas Jefferson
  8. John F. Kennedy
  9. Ronald Reagan
  10. Lyndon B. Johnson
  11. Woodrow Wilson
Click for the full list, or see the wealthiest US presidents. (More Barack Obama stories.)

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