Presidents get elected based on many factors and we have had some great ones and some not so great ones. George Washington was our first President but his primary claim to fame was as the leader of the revolutionary armies, not his actions as President. Not that he was a bad President, just a better general.
We also, at least in much of the country consider Abraham Lincoln a great President although his whole term was spent suppressing the states that had seceded. He did of course preside over the end of slavery and certainly had some great potential had he not been ended so tragically.
Of course measures of success are normally based on the events that happened during each President. For example Thomas Jefferson is remembered for the Louisiana Purchase although certainly while a great expansion of the country not the most complex executive decision.
If you consider how the country has progressed, probably none has had a greater impact on our modern country than Franklin Roosevelt who engineered the New Deal and introduced a great number of social programs we still rely on. Of course in some quarters he is considered the President who started the welfare state and is hardly a hero.
A lot depends on how you see this country and its citizens and how you view its obligations to its citizens.
Still this is a good day to celebrate the office and consider that the country has carried on regardless of who held the office thanks to our institutions and checks and balances.
A comforting thought in light of our current situation.
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