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Obama Is the New Reagan
Reagan’s self-confidence enabled him to negotiate successfully with Gorbachev, even earning the Russian leader’s respect. The Soviet Union was crumbling economically, but Reagan gave it a push with the Star Wars missile defense shield (SDI), which the Soviets couldn’t afford even to test. Margaret Thatcher did exaggerate a bit, but she was essentially right when she said that “Reagan won the cold war without firing a shot.” In foreign policy Reagan set the country, and the world on a new trajectory by pushing the Soviets on the path to demise.
Domestically, he understood that marginal tax rates were too high. And as president he lowered marginal tax rates and stimulated the economy. But that didn’t mean that taxes should be lowered under any conditions. And Reagan understood that many federal programs were counter-productive. The Aid the Families With Dependent Children program actually encouraged the man to leave the household.
Today, our problems are not those Reagan faced, and today’s Republican party is not the party of 1980. It was irrelevant for John McCain to claim he had been a “foot soldier in the Reagan army.” The problems of the Republican party today demand entirely new thinking about what that party must be if it is to govern again. Symbolic of its problems is the fact that not since the 1920s has the theory of evolution been controversial in politics. The Republican party cannot be a tool of the evangelical movement, on evolution, stem cells and a host of other issues.
Obama arrives at a pivotal time for America. He faces problems at home and abroad that only someone who can carry the nation with him would be capable of solving.
Obama takes over from Bush, who has combined Lyndon Johnson with Herbert Hoover, two wars Bush couldn’t end and a recession reeling toward a global Depression. Iraq has cost a trillion dollars so far, and now ten billion a month, plus carnage, with a favorable strategic result unlikely. Almost certainly what will emerge is a Shiite Iraq allied with Iran.
Obama will have to look back to the transformative New Deal, which created millions of jobs building infrastructure—bridges, TVA, roads, tunnels—infrastructure now crumbling and often dangerous. Investment there will create jobs, as will the building of alternative sources of energy.
President Clinton once said, “The age of big government is over.” But not quite. Effective government is what we need. Call it New Deal II. And Roosevelt’s oratory, his Fireside Chats, helped to inspire people to support his programs. Roosevelt, Reagan...Obama.
RELATED: Hart on why Obama is a real conservative.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
The Will to Disbelieve
Jeffrey Hart is professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth College. He wrote for the National Review for more than three decades, where he was senior editor. He wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan while he was governor of California, and for Richard Nixon.
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Jeffrey Hart is professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth College. He wrote for the National Review for more than three decades, where he was senior editor. He wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan while he was governor of California, and for Richard Nixon.
Bush's Deadly Blunder
Jeffrey Hart is professor emeritus of English at Dartmouth College. He wrote for the National Review for more than three decades, where he was senior editor. He wrote speeches for Ronald Reagan while he was governor of California, and for Richard Nixon.
This is going to ruffle quite a few feathers! I have the same sense about Obama and I hope we're right. The thing that strikes me most about him is that he seems to be relatively free of that noxious political disease, Ideology. Let us hope that Obama's defining quality is his thoughtfulness, and that we are not merely projecting empty hopes upon an empty, media constructed vessel.
i pray obama win because we need change not the same
o crap we are better than that we deserve better than that
so when u vote be sure u are making the right choice
monay
I don't agree with your premise that Obama is like Reagan.
I find Obama a much more serious, and intelectual man than R.Reagan. Reagan had charm and good looks, and a wonderful delivery, yet he lacked the real gravitas this position needs.
I think Obama will need to steal a page from the original Roosevelt's (Teddy that is) playbook as well - the original "Square Deal" trust busted the big business players back down to size.
When one man makes $3,000,000,000 a year and another man who works for him makes $ 30,000 a year - if he's lucky! - then some BUSTIN' needs to happen. The divide between the two is just too vast. It is causing our entire capitalistic system to disenegrate. The pyramid of money at the top has disentegrated the chuck of salaries underneath it to the point that the top is toppling.
The few in the middle who make enough to be comfortable just aren't able to speak for the many beneath them any longer who have nothing and do all the work and make just as many sacrifices as those who justify those billion dollar salaries because they take the big risks. Their big heads need to be cut back down to size.
Obama is not the next Reagan. He is the first Obama.
From EUROPEAN COMMISSION CHIEF JOSE MANUEL BARROSO, via BBC:
"This is a time for a renewed commitment between Europe and the United States of America. We need to change the current crisis into a new opportunity. We need a new deal for a new world.
"I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to drive this new deal - for the benefit of our societies, for the benefit of the world."
If any of you are familiar with Codex Alimentarius, North American Union, New World Order, Bilderberg, or any of those terms, you should be worried. At least with Bush, you could see the lies a mile away... BTW, I voted for Cynthia McKinney, she was the only one to stand up and question the forensic evidence, or lack thereof, of 9/11, and the voting fraud in 2000 and 2004.. ask yourself this.. after two fraudulent elections, why was it so easy for Obama? Where did all his money come from? What REAL favors are attached? Then check out google video, type in "peter gibson" and see the cnn clip of Obama's press core being tricked into getting on a plane so Obama could meet with Bilderberg. He's just another Dark Suit.
Should the Grenadians be afraid?
Lets hope that Obama's oratory are not full of disaster, like Reagan's "Shining City on the Hill" or "Standing Tall" crap.
Obama and Reagan couldn't have been more opposite in their positions.
First: LBJ, except for the Vietnam war, was a great president, a master at making ideals into policy. Bush will go down as the worst ever (apologies to James Buchanan), one who by the end had accomplished literally nothing while president, having won no victory for American prosperity or freedom.
Second: Everything new is invariably compared to the past. Old time Republicans like Hart, estranged from their party, seem to hoping real hard that Obama is the next Reagan. Reagan, a holy word for the GOP. It is not beyond possibility that Obama could far outshine Reagan, that only Roosevelt or Lincoln could be called equals. That has yet to be written. But he does possess a singular quality of large vision (like Reagan and Kennedy) and an attention to detail (like Clinton). This could foretell a very effective and far reaching presidency, and a long cold winter for the GOP. President Obama, a Game Changer.
Thank you.
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