On Hannity & Colmes last night Oliver North sought to portray Barack Obama as an "empty suit," at which point Democratic political strategist Bob Beckel erupted, "That's what they said about Ronald Reagan." Beckel went on to make the case that Obama's candidacy resembles the Reagan candidacy of 1980.
Is it possible that Barack Hussein Obama is the next Ronald Wilson Reagan? Well, Reagan too was a strong advocate for "change." When Reagan ran for office the economy was in a shambles. Inflation was in double digits, growth was stagnant, interest rates were high, and the stock market was barely higher than it was a decade earlier. Abroad, the Soviet bear had gobbled up 10 countries between 1974 and 1980. There were 100,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan. In Iran, U.S. policy had helped topple the Shah and usher in the Ayatollah Khomeini. Hostages were being held by Islamic radicals. President Carter diagnosed Americans as suffering from a kind of national depression which he called "malaise." Clearly change was in order.
But Reagan was a man of large ideas. He positioned his career against the big idea of the twentieth century, namely collectivism. Reagan saw collectivism in a menacing Soviet empire abroad, and an expanding welfare state at home. When I first came to America the national ethos had been set by John F. Kennedy who told young people that if they were idealistic and caring, they should join the Peace Corps. To Kennedy it was the government servant who was the true noble American. Reagan disputed this. To him it was not the bureaucrat but the entrepreneur who was the embodiment of American idealism and greatness. Reagan sought to bring about a cultural shift in America in which parents would rather see their children become inventors and business owners rather than paper-pushers in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Reagan also had concrete ideas about how to bring about his grand aspirations. He sought to roll back the Soviet empire by deploying Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe. He sought to deploy missile defenses to shoot down Soviet missiles and also to invite the Russians into a defensive arms race that he knew they couldn't win. He proposed bringing the top marginal tax rate down from 70 percent to 28 percent. He proposed a 30 percent across-the-board tax cut. He sought a restrictive monetary policy to wring inflation out of the economy, combined with tax cuts to unleash entrepreneurial initiative. He backed privatization of government activities that could be better performed by the private sector.
Let's leave aside Reagan's astounding accomplishments in actually getting his ideas implemented, and the great political and cultural revolution they produced. Let's just focus on the fact that Reagan had the vision and he had the specific policies to produce it. Where is Obama's vision for America that goes beyond "bringing us together"? How exactly does Obama propose to do this? What are his imaginative fiscal and monetary proposals? If Obama wants to get troops out of Iraq, what is his alternative strategy for winning the war against radical Islam? Does he have anything more to offer other than the vacuous "really going after Bin Laden"? To ask these questions is to answer them.
The conventional wisdom is that it would be harder for John McCain to beat Hillary Clinton than it would be for him to beat Barack Obama. From what we've seen of Obama so far, this is not so. But it may be useful for let Democrats think this. The party that by all reckoning should win the White House in November may yet snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 24)
1. "Is it possible that Barack Hussein Obama is the next Ronald Wilson Reagan?"
Let's hope not! I don't think Latin America could take it.
Ryan Anderson at 12:39PM on Mar 7th 2008
2. saying obama's no ronald regan is like saying you're no katie couric.
hannah at 12:51PM on Mar 7th 2008
3. dinesh voted for hubert humphrey.
and he killed jesus.
hannah at 12:51PM on Mar 7th 2008
4. Dinesh,
What a load of crap!
Captain Negative at 12:59PM on Mar 7th 2008
5. Regan almost bankrupts the country but poor George Bush Sr. got blamed for it. However your right DD. Obama is nor Regan. Geroge Bush Jr. is Reagn and is leaving the country in the same sad shape Regan left it in. McCain, Obama or Hillary will suffer the same fate as Bush Sr. if they win just trying to clean up the mess.
Larry at 1:18PM on Mar 7th 2008
6. Where is Obama's vision for America that goes beyond "bringing us together"?
When liberals talk about "bringing us together," they only mean dissenting viewpoints should be made illegal, but all are welcome to fully embrace the liberal viewpoint ONLY. Liberal "tolerance" is INTOLERANT, quickly triggering the standard liberal response of raging anger and cursing.
As for "what is his alternative strategy for winning the war against radical Islam?"
Unfortunately, I see Barack Hussein Obama, (with his Muslim upbringing and non-Biblical comments attempting to falsely redefine Christianity), as a trojan horse carrying Muslim values into Washington. Heck, who needs Islamic terrorists if you can put a Muslim in charge of the USA?
I will be voting for John Sydney McCain in November, unfortunately, as the lesser of two liberals. The liberal media wins big this November, even if the Republicans win the election, because McCain has a history of thwarting conservatives and siding with liberals.
P.S. Remember the old, funny cliche' of your mother calling you by your first, middle, and last names ONLY when she was very upset with you? That's why I am using first, middle, and last names for Barack Hussein Obama and John Sydney McCain.
Rev 3:16 at 1:23PM on Mar 7th 2008
7. Here it is people, Exhibit A why the United States has fallen behind Albania in scientific knowledge and is laughed at by other nations in the world.
The dumbing down of the christian right.
Ban home schooling, this is what you end up with, people who think the Flintstones was a documentary and Ronald Reagan was a saint.
Dennis at 1:39PM on Mar 7th 2008
8. South America couldn't take another Reagan.
Arnold Schwartzeneger says, "that's a good one."
Kind of shreads the hold Dinesh crapola blog
James Roop at 1:45PM on Mar 7th 2008
9. P.S. Remember the old, funny cliche' of your mother calling you by your first, middle, and last names ONLY when she was very upset with you? That's why I am using first, middle, and last names for Barack Hussein Obama and John Sydney McCain.
Rev
Grow Up Rev
Deb at 1:56PM on Mar 7th 2008
10. Since 1980 the Republicans have been deregulating everything they could, letting thieves move in, just like the S & L deal, the Hud deal, and now the Housing deal. It is just a way to fleese the taxpaying public. With the leadership we have in this country it is just a matter of time till we get a different system, and those in the future will be able to see the result of how unbridled greed without regulation killed the hopes, and dreams that started in 1776.
Jerry Brown at 1:51PM on Mar 7th 2008
11. I remember Reagan's administration. He gave us Iran/Contra: illegal arms sales that he should have gone to prison for. But he either lied when he was questioned and said "I don't recall" or his Alzheimers disease came in really handy. He had the bright idea that the President was not bound by laws and didn't have to abide by the Constitution and W. took that idea and ran with it! And now Bush has committed crimes that he should serve time in prison for, but he will probably evade that just like your hero Reagan. RR gave us the "greed is good" mentality that is poisoning our nation to this day.
He gave us "trickle down" economics that even he admitted did not work. Not only did it not work but it served to deepen the chasm between the haves and have nots. Our current administration has revived those economic policies (having learned nothing from the past disasters) and that is why we are in the horrible mess we face today. Reagan championed smaller government and less regulation. He said that government was the enemy of the people and then proved it. Which gave us Bush, who has virtually abolished all regulation of business and industry and now we will be cleaning up his mess for decades. Reagan attacked the National Endowment for the Arts and injected politics into a non-partisan organization which crippled our country's belief in the educational and redemptive power of the fine arts which has led to an erosion of our imagination and decency. Reagan's legacy is George W. Bush and Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay and Bill Frist and Sen. Larry Craig and....wait for it....Dinesh D'Souza. Reagan was either so incredibly slow to recognize the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic or was so beholden to his Christian Right base that he helped to exacerbate the devastation that the AIDS crisis has wreaked on society.
And I remember Reagan's campaign slogan: "It's morning in America again." And everyone loved him for giving America the feeling that we could take pride in our country again. American latched onto no real concrete ideas or plans, just a good feeling. JUST LIKE WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH OBAMA NOW. America seemed to need it then and after 8 years of the worst administration in our history, I think maybe America is ready for a little hope again. Because only when we can feel good about our country and our policies once again can we really join together as one nation and work on fixing the mess that the Republicans have dumped us in. And I think Obama may give us that good feeling and not commit nearly as many blunders as Reagan and Bush. Heck, even if he does just as bad as Reagan, the Republicans will say he's the greatest president ever.
Ajock8 at 1:55PM on Mar 7th 2008
12. I remember Reagan's administration. He gave us Iran/Contra: illegal arms sales that he should have gone to prison for. But he either lied when he was questioned and said "I don't recall" or his Alzheimers disease came in really handy. He had the bright idea that the President was not bound by laws and didn't have to abide by the Constitution and W. took that idea and ran with it! And now Bush has committed crimes that he should serve time in prison for, but he will probably evade that just like your hero Reagan. RR gave us the "greed is good" mentality that is poisoning our nation to this day.
He gave us "trickle down" economics that even he admitted did not work. Not only did it not work but it served to deepen the chasm between the haves and have nots. Our current administration has revived those economic policies (having learned nothing from the past disasters) and that is why we are in the horrible mess we face today. Reagan championed smaller government and less regulation. He said that government was the enemy of the people and then proved it. Which gave us Bush, who has virtually abolished all regulation of business and industry and now we will be cleaning up his mess for decades. Reagan attacked the National Endowment for the Arts and injected politics into a non-partisan organization which crippled our country's belief in the educational and redemptive power of the fine arts which has led to an erosion of our imagination and decency. Reagan's legacy is George W. Bush and Newt Gingrich and Tom Delay and Bill Frist and Sen. Larry Craig and....wait for it....Dinesh D'Souza. Reagan was either so incredibly slow to recognize the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic or was so beholden to his Christian Right base that he helped to exacerbate the devastation that the AIDS crisis has wreaked on society.
And I remember Reagan's campaign slogan: "It's morning in America again." And everyone loved him for giving America the feeling that we could take pride in our country again. American latched onto no real concrete ideas or plans, just a good feeling. JUST LIKE WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH OBAMA NOW. America seemed to need it then and after 8 years of the worst administration in our history, I think maybe America is ready for a little hope again. Because only when we can feel good about our country and our policies once again can we really join together as one nation and work on fixing the mess that the Republicans have dumped us in. And I think Obama may give us that good feeling and not commit nearly as many blunders as Reagan and Bush. Heck, even if he does just as bad as Reagan, the Republicans will say he's the greatest president ever.
Ajock8 at 1:57PM on Mar 7th 2008
13. ATHEIST'S BECAME HORRIFIED as Man is Raised from the Dead in JESUS' NAME!!! WSVN News Channel 7 in Miami reports. The news article is on the "right panel" of this site.
http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com
FORMER ATHEIST at 2:09PM on Mar 7th 2008
14. Its amazing how the likes of Dinesh D'Souza and Pat Buchanan are allowed to opine on this presidential race when they are well known racists. How could they possibly speak objectively and without distain about Obama. Some Americans - do actually have the ability to remember things beyond this years political cycle.
chapstar at 2:27PM on Mar 7th 2008
15. I just don't get the retroactive lionizing of Reagan. He was an inarticulate oaf who couldn't speak extemporaneously and had poor command of the actual facts regarding economic and foreign policy matters. Yes, he could read a speach written for him by someone else because he was a trained actor (that's what they do, they read "lines"). The Soviet Union was declining economically well before Reagan, a fact that has been well-documented many places. It was inevitable that the Berlin Wall would fall, with or without Reagan. Gorbachov was the prime mover along with events like the revolt at the Gadansk shipyard that lead to big changes in the FSU. Reagan did have an anti-communist bent for sure but beyond that he was hardly the visionary people now "remember" him as. He was a tool of his behind-the-scenes handlers just as is "W".
John Galt
John Galt at 2:25PM on Mar 7th 2008