"Mass Hysteria!"

That was the Ghostbusters quote you were looking for... you'll have to get up early to beat me at movie quotes.

I admit, your point is a good one (concerning the Report Cards). I do think that my scores are off... but as I said, this is a difficult task, and I'm shooting blind in some areas, so the input that I get from posts like yours are extremely helpful in making me see things in an alternative light.

To be totally honest, I noticed the problem when it occurred to me that George H. W. Bush scored higher than Jefferson, and while I do think Bush Sr. earned his high marks... I'm not at all convinced he was as impacting or influential a President as Jefferson, let alone better than Jefferson.

The difficulty is in what to measure a President's success with. Let me give you an example that has been weighing on my mind a bit for the last few days...

Last April, I made a post about Confederate History Month, and in it I quoted a speech given by Lincoln in 1858 at Charleston, IL. I won't repeat the whole quote, but the "meat" of it is as follows:

"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, [applause]-that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."

Now, this is not one of those instances where someone takes the words of a man completely out of context and twists them or omits others so that the intention of the man is completely mistaken... the link to the entire debate is HERE, and you can see for yourselves if I'm twisting words or removing contextual portions for my own purpose.

My point is simply this: Lincoln was born into a world far different than the one we live in now. Our world and society may not be perfect, but it is far closer to the ideals laid down in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence than anything that Lincoln experienced, or even imagined. It is unjust to hold Lincoln to the same moral or ethical yardstick that a man of today's era should live under, but there are circumstances where "wrong is simply wrong". I'd say that the level of racism expressed in Lincoln's own words from this debate are "wrong", both in light of the morals of today and of 1858... but did these views effect or taint his role as Commander and Chief of the United States of America and our 16th President? I'm inclined to say NO, they did not.

Can the same be said of Andrew Jackson? Calvin Coolidge? Woodrow Wilson?

This is a tough job... one that takes some real thought and effort. I'm still up for it, though.