Historians Say 11 Presidents Were Better Than Obama

Barack Obama was the best US president since Ronald Reagan, but he's got nothing on Abraham Lincoln. That's the takeaway from a C-SPAN survey of 91 historians who helped rank the best presidents in US history based on 10 criteria, including administrative skill, moral authority, crisis leadership, and pursuit of equal justice, per Time. Whereas Obama faltered in international relations, he scored high in managing the economy and public persuasion, coming in at the 12th spot overall, an "impressive" achievement for his first appearance in the survey, one historian tells CNN. The first 11:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. George Washington
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. Theodore Roosevelt
5. Dwight D. Eisenhower
6. Harry S. Truman
7. Thomas Jefferson
8. John F. Kennedy
9. Ronald Reagan
10. Lyndon B. Johnson
11. Woodrow Wilson

Click for the full list, or see the wealthiest US presidents. (More Barack Obama stories.)