One of the worst or the worst ever?

From the UK's Independent:

In this stunningly beautiful American autumn of 2006, there is the whiff of fin de régime in the air - or rather of the end of two regimes. On Tuesday the United States votes in the most closely fought, and closely followed, mid-term elections in memory. Not only could they signify the end of Republican dominance on Capitol Hill which, apart from a hiatus in the Senate in 2001 and 2002, has lasted without interruption since Newt Gingrich and his shock troops over-ran both House and Senate in 1994, forcing Bill Clinton to protest forlornly that the Presidency was "still relevant". The other probable casualty is the era of George W Bush.

No, the name of the 44th President does not appear on any ballot this week, and even when the results are in, he will still be spending another 26 months and 12 days in the White House. Yet at these mid-terms, the 80 million or so Americans expected to vote will be doing far more than electing a new House of Representatives and re-assigning a third of the 100 seats in the Senate. They will be conducting a referendum on a presidency that is a subject of keen debate among historians over whether it is merely one of the worst, or the very worst, in the country's history.

[emphasis added]

It's that last sentence that I really enjoy. It's not even debatable in my mind. Bush is utterly peerless.