I hate odd numbers. I will go to almost any length to avoid them. Odd-numbered TV channels are tolerated because I don’t have a choice. I was greatly relieved when my new television didn’t have numbers next to the level of volume. I only do even numbers of sit-ups, curls, etc. I only do the elliptical for an even amount of time.
The only exceptions are 1 and 5, and sometimes 7. 1 because you can’t get to the other numbers without going through it. And, 5 because I do like to count by 5s. I’ll tolerate 7 if I have to because it is a nice straight-line kind of number.
I hate the fact that it is 2009 but love the fact that Obama is the 44th president, which got me thinking. If we looked at the “good” and “bad” presidents how many would be even-numbered and how many would be odd-numbered.
The major problem with this exercise is that people have different ideas about what consitutes good and bad. We, I’m sure, would universally agree that W was bad. But, what about Bill Clinton? I’ve heard that he was a good president and I’ve heard that he was a bad president. I guess it depends on your yardstick, and bearing in mind that nothing really is absolute. Even Bush II did at least one thing good – funding for AIDS prevention in Africa.
So, keeping mind that there are lots of presidents I know almost nothing about let’s see what I’ve come up with. Consider this a conversation starter because I have a feeling there will be disagreement. 🙂
Good – odd
1) Washington
3) Jefferson
35) Kennedy
Good – even
16) Lincoln
26) Roosevelt, T
32) Roosevelt, F
34) Eisenhower (don’t shoot me, I like the highway system and he did warn against the MIC)
36) Johnson, L (Civil Rights; bad for Vietnam, maybe he goes in both places)
42) Clinton (minus the Monica thing which, while I agree was overblown, he still should have known better)
44) Obama – I have lots of hope 🙂
Bad – odd
7) Jackson (trail of tears)
13) Fillmore (poor thing, being unlucky 13)
19) Hayes
23) Harrison, B
25) McKinley (I might be wrong about him, but he’s from OH so he was probably bad)
27) Taft
29) Harding (what is it with presidents from Ohio?)
31) Hoover
37) Nixon
39) Carter (I hate to put him here but he’s been a much better ex-president than president)
41) Bush, GHW
43) Bush, GW
Bad – even
18) Grant
38) Ford
40) Reagan
Ones I struggled with:
4) Madison (did defeat the British {sorry Brit})
5) Monroe (is the Monroe Doctrine good or bad)
17) Johnson, A (screwed up Reconstruction)
33) Truman (bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and got us into Korea)
So, tell me what you think. Be kind; I extolled the virtues of this site on DKos earlier today. 🙂
48 comments