

Great Presidents That Suck (The Value of Multiple Sources) - DanielBMarkham
http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2009/04/great-president.php

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tokenadult
You asked if you were wrong about any of that. Yes, I would say that the
criticism of Abraham Lincoln was misplaced. Especially, you don't mention at
all how much the preceding Buchanan administration and the Dred Scott decision
by Justice Taney during that administration had made civil war all but
inevitable before Lincoln was even elected.

Nobody's perfect, but some pretty good presidents are subject to unfair
criticism by those who know too little history.

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DanielBMarkham
Thanks for the comment, token.

It's just an opinion. I tried to source it as much as possible, but at the end
of the day, we'll simply have to agree to disagree.

If you Google how the civil war started, you get everything from Dred Scott to
John C. Calhoun. Last year we visited the Lincoln museum in Springfield, IL. I
bought a book there -- something like "50 things that could have prevented the
Civil War" It was an interesting read, speculative at best (as all of these
types of conversations go)

I would argue that all of the presidents in my list are "pretty good" In fact,
they're great presidents. But that doesn't mean that they don't fall short at
the bar of history. Most of them made excellent tactical decisions that had
long-term consequences. You can't blame presidents for being human, and humans
do the best they can.

It's a complicated subject -- hence the post. Thanks for giving it a read.

