It was said that Hashirama was the greatest shinobi and that Hiruzen was the greatest Hokage. So what's the issue here people. They are two completely different titles so yes they can both hold those titles at the same time. It is possible to be the strongest warrior and not the best general. And vice versa...Hiruzen made it to the age he did for a reason. He has had the longest time in office out of all the hokages....maybe more than all of them combined. At the same time there is NO WAY (God of shinobi or not) that he was on Hashiramas level. He was confident when he faced edo 1st and 2nd (in the fight w/ Oro) because he was trained under the man that created the jutsu. He knew how to dea with it the second Oro tried to make it work. So once again your strongest soldier will not necessarily make you a great president