Barack Obama ranks as the 12th best leader in U.S. presidential history, according to a new survey of 91 presidential historians conducted by C-SPAN. It's the 3rd such survey by the organization, which began polling the panel of presidential experts in 2000. The poll ranks each U.S. president on a battery of issues, including: "crisis leadership," "moral authority," "international relations" and "pursuing equal justice for all."

• Obama scored particularly high on the "equal justice" scale, coming in 3rd behind only Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson. He also cracked the top ten on the issues of "moral authority" and "economic management."
• But Obama ranked 5th from the bottom on "relations with Congress," and got a middling 24th best score on "international relations."

Historian Douglas Brinkley of Rice University says that Obama's presidency, despite its weak points, may age well and notch an even higher ranking as time passes.

How Other Presidents Did.    For the third time in a row, Abraham Lincoln ranked as the nation's best presidential leader. George Washington came in second, and Franklin D. Roosevelt rounded out the podium at third.

George W. Bush's dismal ranking of 36rd in the 2009 survey has improved slightly with time. He's now ranked as the nation's 33rd best presidential leader.

James Buchanan was deemed the worst leader in U.S. presidential history. His failure to address the onset of the Civil War is noted as one of the great failures of leadership in American history - below even William Henry Harrison, who died after a month in office.

"You never want to be lower than William Henry Harrison," Brinkley said. "If you're below Harrison, the thought is that that you really damaged the executive branch during your tenure in office."

Here’s the Top 20, along with their top-rated category:

• 20. George H. W. Bush - Best leadership quality and rank: International relations (No. 8)
• 19. John Adams - Best leadership quality and rank: Moral authority (No. 11)
• 18. Andrew Jackson - Best leadership quality and rank: Public persuasion (No. 7)
• 17. James Madison - Best leadership quality and rank: Moral authority (No. 9)
• 16. William McKinley Jr. - Best leadership quality and rank: Relations with congress (No. 10)
• 15. Bill Clinton - Best leadership quality and rank: Economic management (No. 3)
• 14. James K. Polk - Best leadership quality and rank: Crisis leadership (No. 9), Administrative skills (No. 9)
• 13. James Monroe - Best leadership quality and rank: International relations (No. 7)
• 12. Barack Obama - Best leadership quality and rank: Pursued equal justice for all (No. 3)
• 11. Woodrow Wilson - Best leadership quality and rank: Vision (No. 7)
• 10. Lyndon Baines Johnson - Best leadership quality and rank: Relations with congress (No. 1)
• 9. Ronald Reagan - Best leadership quality and rank: Public persuasion (No. 5)
• 8. John F. Kennedy - Best leadership quality and rank: Public persuasion (No. 6)
• 7. Thomas Jefferson - Best leadership quality and rank: Relations with congress (No. 5), Vision (No. 5)
• 6. Harry S. Truman - Best leadership quality and rank: Crisis leadership (No. 4), Pursued equal justice for all (No. 4)
• 5. Dwight D. Eisenhower - Best leadership quality and rank: Moral authority (No.4)
• 4. Theodore Roosevelt - Best leadership quality and rank: Public persuasion (No. 2)
• 3. Franklin D. Roosevelt - Best leadership quality and rank: Public persuasion (No. 1), International relations (No. 1)
• 2. George Washington - Best leadership quality and rank: Economic management (No. 1), moral authority (No. 1), Performance within the context of his times (No. 1)
• 1. Abraham Lincoln Best leadership quality and rank: Crisis leadership (No. 1), administrative skills (No. 1), Vision (No. 1), Pursued equal justice for all (No. 1)