Obama's presidency far from transformational

Washington

HISTORIANS will probably continue to debate for years to come whether US President Barack Obama was one of the 10 most important American presidents, like Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan - or more like the 10 least consequential White House occupants, like Warren Harding or William Harrison (who died 31 days into his term of complications from pneumonia which he had probably caught while delivering his inauguration address).

Indeed, history does make the final judgement; and interestingly enough, she has been in a habit of changing her mind when it comes to US presidents. Hence, president Harry Truman was dismissed as a mediocre commander-in-chief by many students of the presidency immediately after he left office, but is now considered by many as one of the most important presidents of the 20th century, especially when it came to his handling of the last stages of World War II and the first phases of the Cold War.