For years now, the story of Barack Obama’s presidency, according to conservatives, has been extreme. While it’s clear he’s been a terrible President for a multitude of reasons, many would lead us to believe that Obama is the worst President in United States history. This is an extreme assertion and one that is difficult for anyone knowledgeable about history to support. Even for conservative students of history, this is a point that deserves additional review.

Is Barack Obama indeed the worst President of United States history? Let’s explore other candidates for the title.

Woodrow Wilson is perhaps the father of modern interventionism. The man who won an election campaigning against involving ourselves in World War 1 would later drag us there. He advanced the predecessor of the United Nations, the League of Nations. Perhaps the worst part of his legacy is the Federal Reserve system, which has been wrecking the American economy for decades.

It’s understandable that many overlook Wilson for the title. The economics of the Federal Reserve system is either unknown to most or just misunderstood. Its name leads people to believe it is apart of the federal government, when in it is a private cartel of bankers.

Bankers running the economy with artificial money?

Obama has increased our interventionism abroad with drones, bombs, and even some direct military involvement. This occurred after originally portraying himself as a more peaceful President, which was supported by a Nobel Peace Prize. But he hasn’t given us up to the global elite, that has already happened. He also hasn’t sacrificed the economy to bankers, that’s already happened. While there was a great deal wrong with the Obama years, Wilson has him topped.

But is Woodrow Wilson the worst President in United States history?

Another individual may compete with both Wilson and Obama. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is long regarded by mainstream history as the man who saved America from the Great Depression. History books speak favorably of the New Deal and how it saved the free market economy from itself.

Roosevelt was anything but a savior, though. After the government failed to keep the country safe from the Japanese, the response was racist war hysteria. Per order from the President, all Japanese Americans were to report to internment camps and be detained. American citizens not convicted of any wrongdoing were rounded up purely because of their ancestry.

The Supreme Court, which notoriously backed Roosevelt after an attempt to pack the courts, upheld the internment based on race. In Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that paranoid war hysteria and racism can force American citizens to be rounded up and detained without legal due process. Constitutional rights can essentially be revoked by the chief executive based on their heritage.

Obama may have a record of interfering with the economy and opposing certain groups like those with conservative leanings or Christians, but it does not compare with Roosevelt or even Wilson. The examples beyond this point are endless.

The point is to not defend Barack Obama or excuse his abuse of power. This is more so to illustrate that why Obama’s administration is fresh on our minds, it does not necessarily make him the worst. A lot of wrongdoing is still current and will be recent for some time. We would be wise as a nation to leave rhetoric and emotion behind, instead preferring to be students of history.