Would Obama Be Ranked Among the Greatest Presidents If He Were White?

More than eight years after he left office, Barack Obama''s ranking among U.S. presidents remains stuck in a curious middle band — usually 10th to 15th in major historian surveys — despite a record that, by most measurable yardsticks, places him above several presidents conventionally rated higher.

A growing chorus of historians, including some who initially placed him in the middle band themselves, are now revisiting that judgment in print.

What the record actually shows

By the metrics presidential historians most often cite:

• Economic recovery: Inherited a 9.9% unemployment rate and a contracting economy; handed off 4.7% unemployment and 75 straight months of job growth.
• Healthcare: First president to sign comprehensive coverage reform since LBJ, expanding insurance to roughly 20 million Americans.
• Foreign policy: Negotiated the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement; ordered the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
• Scandal record: No criminal indictments of cabinet officials — a rarity in modern two-term presidencies.

By those measures, Obama outperforms several presidents routinely placed in the top ten.

The historian who said it on the record

In a widely shared Atlantic essay, presidential historian Annette Gordon-Reed argued that race "explicitly and implicitly" shapes both contemporary assessments and the long-tail historical memory of Black public figures.

"If Obama had been white, with the same résumé, we would not be having a debate about whether he belongs in the top tier. We would be debating which slot." — Annette Gordon-Reed, The Atlantic

The counterargument

Critics — including several conservative historians — argue that Obama''s rankings reflect real policy disagreements: the Affordable Care Act''s polarized reception, the 2014 ISIS rise after the Iraq withdrawal, and the use of executive orders on immigration. They reject the framing that race explains the ranking gap.

A test the next decade will run

As the cohort of historians shifts and as more presidential papers become available, Obama''s ranking will move. Whether it moves up — toward where his statistical record places him — will, in part, answer the question this debate has been circling for a decade.

Sources: The Atlantic · C-SPAN Presidential Historians Survey · Siena College Research Institute · The New York Times · Brookings