More Polarizing Than Nixon? Please.

Peggy Noonan writes beautifully, and quite often sensibly. Most of her latest column fits that description perfectly. But not this bit of feverish hyperbole:

Mrs. Clinton is the most dramatically polarizing, the most instinctively distrusted, political figure of my lifetime. Yes, I include Nixon.

That is simply an absurd statement. Is Hillary Clinton polarizing? Yes, as every poll we've ever seen on her has shown. But it's ridiculous to suggest that she's more so than Nixon -- or, for that matter, than George W. Bush, or Bill Clinton, or even Noonan's beloved Ronald Reagan. No politician should earn the "most polarizing ever" -- or "greatest ever" -- designation without having sat behind the desk in the Oval Office. No one can polarize, or earn history's praise, on the scale that a president can. Even among non-presidents, is Hillary more polarizing than Jesse Jackson? Pat Buchanan? Pat Robertson? Al Sharpton? I don't think so.