This must have hurt!
It just struck me that I forgot to watch the final episode of the Discovery Channel's series meant to determine, by poll, who the greatest American in history was.
The winner: Ronald Reagan!
While I would have reversed the order of the first two, and put Abraham Lincoln first and Reagan second, that part of the poll doesn't really cause me much of a problem- though it must have made the show's staffers wince!
On the other hand, by listing Bill Clinton seventh, Elvis Presley eighth and Oprah Winfrey ninth. the participants in the poll saved me from any temptation to regard it as anything but a joke.
When it comes to ranking the great Americans of history, the rank-and-file American seems no better informed or competent than in picking an All-Star team in baseball.
The winner: Ronald Reagan!
While I would have reversed the order of the first two, and put Abraham Lincoln first and Reagan second, that part of the poll doesn't really cause me much of a problem- though it must have made the show's staffers wince!
On the other hand, by listing Bill Clinton seventh, Elvis Presley eighth and Oprah Winfrey ninth. the participants in the poll saved me from any temptation to regard it as anything but a joke.
When it comes to ranking the great Americans of history, the rank-and-file American seems no better informed or competent than in picking an All-Star team in baseball.
Comments
IMO, that makes Abe perhaps the most significant, but not the "best" -- I will still have to give that honor to George Washington.
-ghp
That "federation" would never have survived if the Confederacy had won- or even been allowed to go its own way.