Biography paul krugman obama great president

In , New York Times columnist Paul Krugman’s claims that Barack Obama should be considered one of the best recent presidents has generated a lot of debate.

But how do historians and political scientists rank leaders over a long time span?

The jury is still out on President Obama, who has one year left in his second term. Krugman’s op-ed, which actually appeared in Rolling Stone magazine in , argued that Obama should get credit for his action on health reform, financial reform, and environmental and social initiatives.

“Obama has emerged as one of the most consequential and, yes, successful presidents in American history,” Krugman said in a statement that many people have taken issue with since then.

Last February, a survey from the American Political Science Association had President Obama ranked in 18th place.

So how do historians come up with criteria to rank presid