greatest president in history?

A recent gallup poll (yeah, it asks for a login but the top few presidents in the poll are at the top of the page) found that Americans rated "Ronald Reagan as the greatest president in history, followed by Bill Clinton, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy." Naturally Reagan won among Republicans and Clinton was tops among Democrats.

Besides the ridiculous idea of Clinton and Reagan being our best presidents in history, this shows how narrow people's vision is. Ask them who the "greatest" is and they just think of someone in their lifetime. In at least some cases they probably simply don't know enough history to pick anyone else.

Greatness requires trials. So one would expect the greatest presidents to be those who rose to the occasion in very difficult times. Clinton, who did the job of the presidency fairly well while doing a lousy job with his personal life, did not serve in difficult times. He was no George Washington (who didn't even make the top 5) or Abe Lincoln, and he never had the opportunity to be. FDR on the other hand guided America through the Great Depression and WWII both. Abraham Lincoln was successful in leading America through the war that temporarily tore it apart. Washington was in many ways a marvel as the country's first president, a man who truly wanted the people to govern themselves. People tried to make him the equivalent of a king and he simply refused the power. Everything he did set a precedent and he was very conscious of that fact. Was he a saint? No, he had his flaws like any man, but he did a damn good job as the nation was formed. See what happens in the world to other countries who become independent and have a poor or corrupt first leader and you'll see how lucky this country was.