Scott Horton of Harper’s Magazine posted the other day on a survey of historians showing that 61% percent of them considered George W. Bush the worst president in U.S. history. Horton raises the difficulties in making such definitive pronouncements concerning a sitting president, but also marks President Bush as a special case.
I find all the talk using negative superlatives regarding the current administration to be a bit much and a potential distraction from more pressing matters. We have an unhealthy addiction in our society to spectacle, and enlivening the headlines with superlative assessments feeds that addiction. Besides, peaking of Bush as “the worst of the worst” inspires more knee-jerk reactions than conversions; if persuasion is your game, tempered language might be in order.
Adding weight to a historical figure with “best” or “worst” labels also can create an imbalanced historical perspective in which attention is paid to those superlatively honored and dishonored at the expense of attention being given to other figures whose historical influence shouldn’t evade our sight. To his credit, Scott Horton has an eye for underlying and peripheral details.
Then there’s the controversial question of what criteria are used to measure and compare presidents: ability, effectiveness in implementing policy, faithfulness to his oath to uphold the constitution, etc. Those considered by consensus to be the “great” presidents may, in light of other criteria, be regarded as candidates for the most tyrannical rulers.
If fair evaluation presupposes full and accurate understanding, then we have a ways to go before a relatively complete evaluation of this presidency can be made, for, as its critics are quick to point out, the inner-workings of the Bush Administration are largely unknown, shrouded in, among other things, secret memos. As Donald Rumsfeld might say, there are many known unknowns about this presidency. And unknown unknowns as well. That doesn’t rule assessments of Bush’s performance, but maybe we ought to withhold the superlatives until we get a better picture.
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