Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin said Wednesday that President Obama?s achievements will be lasting - but didn?t agree with his claim that his accomplishments already top all but three presidents.
Obama said recently that his legislative and foreign policy achievements match up with all presidents but those of Lincoln, FDR and LBJ?s.
Continue ReadingGoodwin said she thought Obama had an argument for inclusion among the great presidents, but that it would take some time to determine.
?I think there are accomplishments that will last in history - breaking down al Qaeda and finally getting Osama bin Laden. What?s happening in Libya he helped inspire, passing the health care law, [repealing] Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell, education, financial reform,? she said on MSNBC?s ?Morning Joe.? ?None of that is being absorbed right now because people are not happy with the economy. So it?s almost going to have to wait five, 10 years for people to look back and see those accomplishments.?
?If health care gets overturned, that?s undone, but it?s probably not likely that it?s going to get overturned and these other accomplishments will loom larger as time goes by,? she added.
The historian said Obama?s list was too short and she had several suggestions for inclusion in the same category as Lincoln, FDR and LBJ.
?I think I would add a few more of presidents in there. Certainly, George Washington, the fact he created the dignity of the office? created the whole idea that the president was a man of the people. So definitely, he belongs in that group,? said Goodwin. ?I think Harry Truman belongs in there: the Marshall Plan, NATO, desegregation of the army.?
Goodwin approved of Obama?s long-view, saying that it was preferable to a politician who was focused only on short-term political gain.
?He is a man that thinks about history. It?s very important to him, and that?s not a bad thing. You?d rather have a guy think about history and how?s he?s going to be remembered for worthy accomplishments than simply thinking about, ?what can I do to gain points today or tomorrow?? It?s a healthy instinct in a president,? she said.
Goodwin is the author of such presidential biographies as ?Team of Rivals ? the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,? and ?No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt,? which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995.
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