- #71
russ_watters
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mathwonk, any historian worthy of listening to will tell you that you can't get an unbiased accounting of the place in history of events that are less than about 10 or 20 years old (much less not finished!). The link Greg provided on the first page quite correctly leaves Bush off the list (regardless of if they think he deserved to be on it) because "It's too soon to judge the current one..."
Your statements there about his place in history being locked-up and decided (besides just the rank itself) are nowhere close to reality.
All that said, here, apparently, is the current opinion of historians who wish to share their opinion*: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/worstpresidents/index.htm
*That is, of course, a pretty critical flaw in the survey, especially given the subject matter. People who go out of their way to fill out such a survey tend to be passionate about it, so it is no surprise what kind of people this one attracted.
http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
Regardless, we should revisit this thread again in 2 years and see where he is then.
Your statements there about his place in history being locked-up and decided (besides just the rank itself) are nowhere close to reality.
All that said, here, apparently, is the current opinion of historians who wish to share their opinion*: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/worstpresidents/index.htm
*That is, of course, a pretty critical flaw in the survey, especially given the subject matter. People who go out of their way to fill out such a survey tend to be passionate about it, so it is no surprise what kind of people this one attracted.
There are at least two obvious criticisms of such a survey. It is in no sense a scientific sample of historians. The participants are self-selected, although participation was open to all historians. Among those who responded are several of the nation’s most respected historians, including Pulitzer and Bancroft Prize winners.
The second criticism that is often raised of historians making such assessments of a current president is that it is far too early. We do not yet know how the things that Mr. Bush has done will work out in the future.
http://hnn.us/articles/48916.html
Regardless, we should revisit this thread again in 2 years and see where he is then.
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