The categories raise problems, but more fundamental issues get in the way of balanced evaluations.
Presidents are prisoners of historical circumstance.
Those who aspire to historical greatness need to live in interesting times. Placid prosperity may be a blessing to a nation, but it is a curse to a chief executive who hopes for the reverential opinion of future generations. Suppose Democrat James Cox somehow had been elected president instead of Warren Harding in 1920, had succumbed to a heart attack during his first year in office, and had been succeeded by his charming lightweight of a vice president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Another problem is often forgotten. Great men are not always great presidents.