You really are grasping for straws here. The impact was huge and yes comparable to 911 because the images were on TV nightly for over 400 days on all three networks.
As much as you want to believe a hostage situation is the same as 9-11,it is not The bombing of the Marine Barracks was worse then carters hostage situation,at least no one died in Carters crisis
Unfortunately, I must agree with the historians. Carter inherited post-Watergate, the downfall of the shah, oil controls,inflation. It was just too much for ol'Jimmah. The last straw was the aborted nighttime helicopter raid on Iran with our forces. Bush (and his old man) took a wrecking ball to the US. Reagan was the best hands down, although "Slick Willie" actually proved to be somewhat competent.
http://www.c-span.org/PresidentialSurvey/Overall-Ranking.aspx Historians Survey Results Category Total Scores/Overall Ranking President's Name 2009 Final Score Overall Ranking Abraham Lincoln 902 1 1 George Washington 854 2 3 Franklin D. Roosevelt 837 3 2 Theodore Roosevelt 781 4 4 Harry S. Truman 708 5 5 John F. Kennedy 701 6 8 Thomas Jefferson 698 7 7 Dwight D. Eisenhower 689 8 9 Woodrow Wilson 683 9 6 Ronald Reagan 671 10 11 Lyndon B. Johnson 641 11 10 James K. Polk 606 12 12 Andrew Jackson 606 13 13 James Monroe 605 14 14 Bill Clinton 605 15 21 William McKinley 599 16 15 John Adams 545 17 16 George H. W. Bush 542 18 20 John Quincy Adams 542 19 19 James Madison 535 20 18 Grover Cleveland 523 21 17 Gerald R. Ford 509 22 23 Ulysses S. Grant 490 23 33 William Howard Taft 485 24 24 Jimmy Carter 474 25 22 Calvin Coolidge 469 26 27 Richard M. Nixon 450 27 25 James A. Garfield 445 28 29 Zachary Taylor 443 29 28 Benjamin Harrison 442 30 31 Martin Van Buren 435 31 30 Chester A. Arthur 420 32 32 Rutherford B. Hayes 409 33 26 Herbert Hoover 389 34 34 John Tyler 372 35 36 George W. Bush 362 36 NA Millard Fillmore 351 37 35 Warren G. Harding 327 38 38 William Henry Harrison 324 39 37 Franklin D. Pierce 287 40 39 Andrew Johnson 258 41 40 James Buchanan 227 42 41
http://wcbstv.com/topstories/us.president.rankings.2.935860.html Lincoln Ranked Best US President By Historians George W. Bush Listed As 36th Best Out Of 42 James Buchanan Takes Last Spot WASHINGTON (CBS) ¯ Click to enlarge1 of 1 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was ranked the best in America's brief history by 65 historians. (File) AP Just days after the nation honored the 200th anniversary of his birth, 65 historians ranked Abraham Lincoln as the nation's best president. Former President George W. Bush, who left office last month, was ranked 36th out of the 42 men who had been chief executive by the end of 2008, according to a survey conducted by the cable channel C-SPAN. Bush scored lowest in international relations, where he was ranked 41st, and in economic management, where he was ranked 40th. His highest ranking, 24th, was in the category of pursuing equal justice for all. He was ranked 25th in crisis leadership and vision and agenda setting. In contrast, Lincoln was ranked in the top three in each of the 10 categories evaluated by participants. In C-SPAN's only other ranking of presidents, in 2000, former President Bill Clinton jumped six spots from No. 21 to 15. Other recent presidents moved positions as well: Ronald Reagan advanced from No. 11 to 10, George H.W. Bush rose from No. 20 to 18 and Jimmy Carter fell from No. 22 to 25. This movement illustrates that presidential reputations are influenced by present-day concerns, said survey adviser and participant Edna Medford. "Today's concerns shape our views of the past, be it in the area of foreign policy, managing the economy or human rights," Medford said in a statement. After Lincoln, the academics rated George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt and Harry Truman as the best leaders overall. The same five received top spots in the 2000 survey, although Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt swapped spots this year. Rated worst overall were James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison and Warren G. Harding. The survey was conducted in December and January. Participants ranked each president on a scale of one, "not effective" to 10, "very effective," on a list of 10 leadership qualities including relations with Congress, public persuasion and moral authority. Other notable presidents, and their rankings: Theodore Roosevelt (4); Dwight Eisenhower (8); John Adams (17); Ulysses S. Grant (23); Richard Nixon (27).