Historians who rank/rate all the presidents put Buchanan at the bottom. But, ranking/rating the postwar presidents is far more relevant today because they governed/govern in an era when the US was/is the top global economy, the most powerful nation--and the president had/has far more responsibilities than the prewar chief executives. It's a much tougher job.

The real damage to America is that, for the first time in the postwar era, we will have 16 straight years of the two worst presidents. The damage to the American Dream, to our standing in the world, to the integrity of our institutions--to the trust Americans used to have in their leaders--is going to be very hard to overcome.