According to Lanny Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton and longtime Democratic consultant,

Barack Obama will be considered one of history's great presidents. What makes Obama so spectacular?

Well, according to Davis, to be a great president, requires a combination of four factors. First,

unique circumstances making a major impact on the nation's history, like Washington and Jefferson

as framers and setting important precedents for the presidency for future generations. Second, successfully addressing one or more

major national crises, Lincoln with the Civil War, or FDR with World War II, third,

having significant positive impacts on economic and social changes or in foreign policy.

And fourth, enhancing the powers and effectiveness of the presidency and the future of their political parties. Davis then goes ahead and ranks his top tier presidents. He says those are Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Teddy, and FDR. And he lists his second tier presidents, Monroe, Polk, McKinley, Wilson, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Reagan, Clinton. So, where does Obama stack up in all of this?

According to Davis, quote, there is little doubt that future historians will rank him high

in this second tier. What were Obama's accomplishments? Obamacare? Quote, digging the country

out of an economic great recession and his election is the first black president. That's the whole

thing. And that's pretty weak. So here's where Obama actually stacks up on these

four factors. First, unique circumstances. Obama did face a severe economic downturn when he assumed

office. That is not that rare in American history. According to 247 wallstreet.com, America has had either

depressions or recessions in 1797 under Adams, 1807 under Jefferson, 1815 to 1821 under Madison and Monroe,

1837 under Van Buren, 1857 under Buchanan, 1873 under Grant, 1893 under Cleveland, 1907 under

Teddy, 1920 and 21 under Harding, the Great Depression under Hoover and FDR, 1973 under Nixon,

and the Carter years and early Reagan years. Which leaves aside, the stock market crashes under Reagan, the mild economic downturn under

George H.W. Bush and the bursting of the internet bubble under Bill Clinton.

So, the question isn't, did he actually experience a downturn? It's what he did with that.

He proceeded to lead, Obama did, one of the worst recoveries in American history.

Second, successfully addressing one or more national crises. This is

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