Hey Mitt Romney, President Obama did not say he was one of the four best presidents

Ex-Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) just said in his winner circle speech that President Obama recently made the claim he was one of the four best presidents of all time.

Not true, Mitt.

Here is the quote he’s referring to, from a CBS “60 Minutes” interview:

“The issue here is not going be a list of accomplishments. As you said yourself, Steve, you know, I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, F.D.R., and Lincoln — just in terms of what we’ve gotten done in modern history. But, you know, but when it comes to the economy, we’ve got a lot more work to do.”

That’s not saying he’s one of the four best presidents of all time, to my judgment. I know conservative blogs jumped all over it, but Obama was simply saying he didn’t feel inferior, or below par, compared to previous presidents. There’s nothing in that quote where I suggests he is one of the best.

Now, it’s one thing for a blog or a pundit to take the quote for something it’s not, but a presidential candidate and his team should know better.

But then again, this is coming from someone who makes speeches about events that he says he remembers that happened before he was born.

From tonight’s State of the Union address:

One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.