With one fell swoop, Eric Spiegelman steals our whole “Obama is the next..” bit by pulling quotes comparing the President-elect to every single president from Bush all the way back to Lincoln.
“Bill Clinton might win a popularity contest if it came to vote of the peoples of the world, but among the world’s leaders, George Bush is more respected.
The first President Bush has largely kept his mouth shut about the performance of his son. His former colleagues, like Brent Scowcroft, have taken to speaking for him, in expressing his displeasure with some of the policies of the George Bush II.
But with Barack Obama now our President, he will have to rely on many different voices to help guide him through the most difficult global economy in seven decades. Obama shouldn’t hesitate to call on George Bush. He is a true patriot and a great resources for the new President.”
With all of the cabinet (& lower level posts) assigned to members of the Clinton administration, this comparison looks more & more apt every day.
I will say that Obama benefits hugely by not being a ‘baby boomer’ (he’s technically one - born in 1961 - but not of that generation).
He also is less of a “50% +1″ type, like not just #42 but also #43.
& in terms of self-absorption (always present in a president), though you could make a case this is a problem with Obama, I’d say it’s far, far, farther down on the scale when compared with Bill.
If you can think of any other similarities/differences, I’d love to hear from you.
On to the similarities:
Look for other comparisons with the other presidents between now & Inauguration Day.
Here’s a whole blog dedicated to the idea expressed in this post’s headline.
The Wall Street Journal, July 2nd:
“…the next President, whether Democrat or Republican, is going to embrace much of Mr. Bush’s foreign and antiterror policy whether he admits it or not. Think Eisenhower endorsing Truman’s Cold War architecture.”
(above: a morph photo of Obama, Bush & Cheney. Image by Digital Halide)
There is a strong chance that Lawrence Summers is going to be returned to the post of Secretary of the Treasury. If so, he’s pulling a “Donald Rumsfeld” who served as Secretary of Defense twice — the first stint under Gerald Ford and then of course under George W. Bush.
