Jonathan Chait: Barack Obama, Bad Presidential Historian

Liberals are dissatisfied with President Obama because liberals are dissatisfied with pretty much every president. That was the argument in my piece from last month about the history of liberal disillusionment. Unsurprisingly, President Obama agrees. CBS has released a transcript of Obama’s interview with Steve Kroft from a week ago referencing it:

Look, Steve, you know, there was actually a good article written a while back, taking a look at the old press clips from every Democratic president, dating back to Franklin Roosevelt, including Roosevelt. And, you know, nobody was happy with them. Nobody was happy with them. You know?...

That’s a pretty accurate summation. But then, later in the interview, Obama’s historical interpretation takes a pretty strange turn:

As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln — just in terms of what we've gotten done in modern history....