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Title: Exercise in Futility
Review: James Taranto's book starts with a premise that it cannot defend: the idea that presidents can be "rated" in a sequential order of quality, as if historical leaders are reducible to the same status as restaurants or beauty-pageant contestants. The book attempts a tone of objectivity that I found fatuous under the surface. Taranto's M.O. seems to be to affect the role of disinterested observer while engaged in the thick of political battle. The section on Reagan is pure hagiography, and you get the sense that Taranto and co. would like nothing less than to see the faces of Mt. Rushmore replaced with four Reagans. I would recommend this book only for those who regard presidents with idolatry rather than seeing them in the context of the times in which they lived.
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