In an interview with ABC’s “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer, President Obama said, “I’d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president.”
I’ll leave the witty retorts to others (Keep doing what you’re doing, champ. You’re right on track.) for I’d rather explore the interesting question it raises: “Who were good one-term presidents?”
Of the forty-three previous Presidents, twenty-nine served only one term.
Five Presidents (John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, and Gerald Ford) succeeded from the Vice-Presidency but did not win elected terms of their own, while four others (Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, HarryTruman, and Lyndon Johnson) succeeded through death, and then went on to serve a single elected term of their own.
Five died during their first terms (William Harrison, Zachary Taylor, James Garfield, Warren Harding, and John Kennedy) and three more failed to complete their second (Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and Richard Nixon).
That leaves only twelve Presidents that would be comparable to Obama’s situation: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, James Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Rutherford Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush.
In 2009, a group of presidential historians and “professional observers of the presidency” ranked presidents in a number of categories for the C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership. On our list of remaining twelve, the top three rankings were James K. Polk (#12), John Adams (#17), and George HW Bush (#18).
I suspect that, at best, Obama could be on par with George H.W. Bush—the contemporary holder of the title “Best Good One-Term President.” That is probably not what he had in mind, though it is better than being compared to Herbert Hoover or Jimmy Carter. (Judging solely on his first year, I would rank him near Benjamin Harrison (#30)).
Where do you think Obama will rank if he ends up being a single-termer?
January 26th, 2010 | 2:56 pm
If Obama does indeed end up knowing defeat in a couple years, the Carter comparisons in the blogosphere will be endless. But I don’t think that’s fair — to Carter. If Obama fails to get re-elected, he’ll be the first public servant in my lifetime to squander so much political capital, so much enthusiasm, in such a short period of time. Even though I wasn’t conscious during his presidency, I don’t recall ever having read anything about Carter beginning his single term with quite the fanfare Obama saw.
Should President Obama maintain current trajectory, he’ll finish his term in the White House at a fairly young age, and then – like Carter, I suppose – the “legacy building” period will begin.
That’s what my dusty crystal ball says, anyhow. In the end, I think it a fool’s game to buy into Obama’s notion that there can be such a thing as a “really good one-term president” in the modern era.
January 26th, 2010 | 6:05 pm
Hmm…the impression I get from this comment is that Obama is preparing to cast himself as a martyr who makes ‘hard choices’ that we poor peons can’t appreciate at the time, but that will ultimately save us from ourselves.
January 26th, 2010 | 6:55 pm
President Obama aspires to be as highly-esteemed as James K. Polk? Hubris.
January 26th, 2010 | 8:28 pm
I sometimes surf between more liberal blogs — God’s Politics — and this this one. It’s fascinating to go from one end of the political spectrum to the other. I don’t think we should lay the blame at Obama’s feet, when it’s the Congress whose feet should be held to the fire. Personally, I believe this country has come to the point of being ungovernable because of the competing extremes of the Left and the Right. Obama ends up being squashed in the middle. I do not believe there is a person alive in this country who can bring our nation together. Too much vitriol on all sides…
January 26th, 2010 | 8:32 pm
You left out Grover Cleveland. Twice.
January 26th, 2010 | 8:51 pm
The condition of the banking system and the public fisc three years from now will determine how he will rate.
January 26th, 2010 | 11:08 pm
It’s hard to find a metric by which he is a successful president. James K. Polk is the best one termer precisely because he was elected with a set of goals that he accomplished to utter completion (chiefly, annexing Texas and successfully prosecuting the inevitable war). Other one termers are admired personally for their style, their intelligence, or integrity. The Adams presidents would probably fall under that category.
After a year with Obama in the oval office his goals are utterly unaccomplished, and in many cases his policies have been exactly reversed (remember when he lambasted McCain’s idea of a spending freeze?)
As it is, the best he can hope for is to be beloved personally, but ultimately I don’t see him as having any long term historical appeal.
January 27th, 2010 | 2:21 am
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January 27th, 2010 | 3:57 pm
I don’t think Van Buren, Hayes, Arthur or B. Harrison were that bad of presidents to be honest with you….
But let’s be real. Reagan is the giant among pygmies. Clinton, Carter, Ford, Bush, the other Bush and Obama are not exactly going to stand as shining examples future presidents will want to follow and the best of them (Ford and the first Bush) were not exactly candidates for Mt. Rushmore.
January 28th, 2010 | 1:03 am
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