Ranking experience in former Presidents and current candidates
An interesting project by a guy who calls himself POW in CA, and obviously has tremendous military experience himself. He creates a spreadsheet showing values for experience.
Republicans tout McCain’s military credentials. Does this matter? Well, apparently is has mattered quite a bit in history:
- 27 of our 42 presidents (64%) have served in the military.
- 21 of those have served in combat.
- 12 of our presidents were Generals.
- 7 or more of our presidents served with extraordinary bravery in combat.I put together an experience spreadsheet containing all 42 of the people who have served as president, plus McCain, Palin, Biden, Obama, and Hillary Clinton. The spreadsheet shows the number of years each person served in each capacity from county assessor all the way up to vice president. I included time served in the military, which I think is relevant leadership experience
He assigned values to different life experiences and of course John McCain scores highly, second actually to President John Q. Adams. With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton scoring very low.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
According to that spreadsheet, James Buchanan is #4 in experience - but he’s generally considered to be the worst president in our country’s history.
On the other hand, Abraham Lincoln is #42.
To a certain extent, times make the man. I don’t think James Buchanan could have avoided the Civil War, no matter what he did. OTOH, Harry Truman was considered to be highly unqualified when he was elected vice-president. I wouldn’t call him a great president, but he was certainly wasn’t the worst.
Judgment and temperament are off the spreadsheet, obviously, because how would you rate them? But they are important.
And presidents quickly gain experience. There’s a story about Winston Churchill insulting a woman. “You’re ugly,” he said, and she replied, “You’re drunk!” “Yes,” Churchill agreed, “but in the morning, I shall be sober, and you’ll still be ugly.”
That’s why I think the GOP has their ticket upside down. Palin would make a better president than McCain.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I’m pretty sure that if the southern states were allowed to secede from the union… as was (and is) their Constitutional right the civil war could have been avoided.
Was James Buchanan our “worst” president? Or did he not take any major courses of action… to me, that would be a great president.
I’m fairly certain that Woodrow Wilson was one of our worst presidents… very Hitler-esque (but pre-Hitler).
September 15th, 2008 at 12:02 am
P.S. - Woodrow Wilson’s experience conveniently falls in the middle between Obama and Hillary… how interesting??
September 15th, 2008 at 12:09 am
The point that the creator of the spreadsheet was trying to make is that there is not a particularly good coordination between “experience” and whether or not a President is considered “good”.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
“That’s why I think the GOP has their ticket upside down. Palin would make a better president than McCain.”
Ditto.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:57 am
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