There are many reasons to despise former President George W. Bush. Take your pick: he ran the U.S. economy into the ground, he was ushered into office enjoying a $237 billion surplus courtesy of Bill Clinton and turned it into a $1.3 trillion deficit, he lied about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction to takes us into war and he supported a shameful policy of torturing detainees, tarnishing the image of our great country. But people’s memories are short. And right-wingers, constantly on the attack against President Obama have even suggested of late, that they miss George Bush. So, it’s nice to see in a neat little chart in black and white, courtesy of a survey of 238 presidential scholars, what we all know to be true: Ranked 39th, former President George W. Bush is one of the five worst presidents in history.

The Siena College Research Institute has been conducting its respected survey of U.S. presidents, since 1982. The group of presidential scholars rank our presidents on 20 factors, including “intelligence,” “foreign policy accomplishments,” “integrity” and even “luck.”
Bush ranked quite low overall, but he placed next to last on intelligence, foreign policy accomplishments, and handling of U.S. economy:
“George W. Bush, had entered the survey at 23rd when the study was last conducted one year into his first term. Today, just one year after leaving office, the former president has found himself in the bottom five at 39th rated especially poorly in handling the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence.”
“Rounding out the bottom five are four presidents that have held that dubious distinction each time the survey has been conducted: Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Warren G. Harding, and Franklin Pierce.”
President Obama fared well in the top 20, ranked at 15th:
“The current president, Barack Obama, while highly rated on imagination (6th), communication ability (7th) and intelligence (8th) scores poorly on background (family, education and experience) and enters the survey in the 15th position.”
Obama’s ranking outpaces conservative hero Ronald Reagan, whom “dropped two places from 16th overall in 2002 to 18th today.”
And Bill Clinton, “now nearly ten years removed from the White House, moved upwards in the rankings from 18th overall in 2002 to 13th today.”
The top five U.S. presidents are, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
(Source: chattahbox.com)