Remember how most of the mainstream media used to deride Ronald Reagan to the extent of constantly declaring the "end of the Reagan era?' Well, now the MSM is starting to find "strange new respect" for Reagan but primarily as a way to boost Barack Obama. Newsweek columnist, Eleanor Clift, now favorably compares Obama to Ronald Reagan. Gone is the previous antagonism to The Gipper which has been replaced by admiration for his wisdom (emphasis mine):
Enough with the Lincoln analogies; Reagan is the president that Barack Obama is most closely modeling himself after. Ronald Reagan inherited stagflation, a defeat abroad and a nation at its nadir in morale. Through the sheer force of his personality as much as his policies, four years later, it was "Morning in America," the theme of his 1984 re-election campaign when he won 49 states. Obama isn't president yet, but his determined calm and orderly transition pace appear to be soothing the financial markets, producing the first sustained gain in stocks since the mid-September meltdown.
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Gee, Eleanor, perhaps you might at least want to wait until Obama is actually in the Oval Office before comparing him to Reagan. Anyway, it is good to see some liberals finally recognizing the leadership abilities of a conservative president that they previously derided as being out of touch:
On Jan. 20, Obama will take the oath of office, join a private luncheon in Statuary Hall, then meet with congressional leaders and, if all goes according to plan, sign into law a massive stimulus plan before he proceeds up Pennsylvania Avenue to the viewing stand outside the White House for the Inaugural Parade. Reagan initiated the tradition of the Inaugural Day meeting with the legislative barons, a gesture that signals respect and sets a tone for the 100-day dash when a president can be most productive.
An interesting corollary to this Clift's new-found admiration for Reagan is the derision of the two most recent Democrat presidents:
This will be the first time since 1960 that two senators have gone directly from Capitol Hill to the White House. The people they're bringing with them, together with the relationships they have, constitute an unparalleled early warning system. Unlike Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, who quickly ran afoul of their Democratic majorities, Obama will be better wired on Capitol Hill than anybody in either party since Lyndon Johnson. Rahm Emanuel has a boatload of IOUs he can call in as chief of staff along with a high sensitivity to what it takes to preserve and build an enduring majority. Phil Schilero, tapped as Obama's liaison to Capitol Hill, has deep roots in Congress both as a top aide to former Senate leader Tom Daschle and as ace House investigator Henry Waxman's longtime sidekick. With Waxman displacing old bull John Dingell as chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee, the prospects for meaningful action on a host of legislation, notably climate change, improve dramatically. Dingell is known as "Tailpipe John" for his fierce defense of Michigan's auto industry against government regulation.
...Carter's first 100 days turned contentious when key committee chairmen rebelled at his proposal to cancel several water projects he regarded as wasteful. The hometown loyalists Carter surrounded himself with had no idea of what a sacred cow they had taken on, and Carter was forced to back down.
It would have been nice if Clift and her fellow liberals had been honest in assessing Ronald Reagan while he was actually president. Instead they seem to have to wait 20 years to deliver some honesty on the 40th president and primarily as a way to boost a Democrat president-elect who hasn't even assumed office yet.
—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.
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Clift did and still does
December 1, 2008 - 09:13 ET by ConservativeRexClift did and still does loath Ronald Reagan.
Now we're supposed to believe her annoited one is exactly like President Reagan?
Clift has flipped, gone around the bend, bonkers, however you want to put it.
Obami is polar opposite of President Reagan. No two politicians could be further apart then these two.
Nice try Clift, but nobody believes any of this crap from you mainstream lunkheads anymore.
I'll be damned if these MSM haven't made me a cynical middle ager. But they have no credibility at all.
Clift is and always has been a Democrat media hack
December 1, 2008 - 10:53 ET by JohnMcGrewDuring the '90s, I used to say that had video appeared of Bill & Hillary Clinton clubbing helpless baby harp seals for the fun of it, Elenor Clift would be there in Newsweek and on the Sunday talking head shows telling us not only how clubbing baby harp seals was the proper thing to do, but how it was a supreme sacrifice they were making for America.
Elenor Clift is not insane. She’s just an overt arm of the Democrat media machine. It’s her job to take the patently corrupt and absurd, and spin it for the dolts who take Newsweek seriously.
According to Webster's Dictionary...
December 1, 2008 - 15:23 ET by stratmanThe proper term for Eleanor Clift is "whore".
20 Year Lag
December 1, 2008 - 09:17 ET by flyingmonkeySo it took the liberal MSM 20 years to figure out what conservatives knew about Reagan all along. Following that model, we can assume that the liberal MSM won't realize what a know nothing, done nothing, dim-witted empty suit our first Affirmative Action president is until 2028.
Boycott your local newspaper. Don't support the people that lie to you.
Force of personality
December 1, 2008 - 09:19 ET by KC MulvilleThey can't bring themselves to admit that it was Reagan's conservatism, both at home and abroad, that turned Washington around. Instead, they attribute it to his personality. It's a cheat. Reagan turned things around because of his philosophy of governing, not just because he was a nice guy. Obama may be a nice guy, but he has no governing philosophy. He calls himself a pragmatist, which is code for "making it up as we go along."
All Obama has is George Bush. For two years, Obama has promises to do everything Bush didn't. That has been his entire program. And yet, in his transition, Obama has impicitly conceded that Bush either got some things right or had no alternatives. See Obama follow Bush, all the while telling everyone how he's really not following Bush.
In almost every Western, whoever wins the pistol-shooting contest is told, "it's easy when they aren't shooting back." Obama is about to see what happens when they start shooting back.
Good points, KC. I call
December 1, 2008 - 10:27 ET by motherbeltGood points, KC.
I call pragmatism the "whatever gets you through today(we can redo it tomorrow) philosophy.
Well golly, MSM..you just keep on trying to convince us that Obama is a composite of the best of every President we've ever had.
And don't forget, he's McDreamy AND McSteamy!!
Does this man have any faults at all?
Obama spent 18 months telling us what is wrong with
America, and now we are supposed to believe that he is suddenly going
to exhibit the enthusiasm and love that Ronald Reagan had for this
country???
Yeah, that's gonna happen.
The big difference is that Ronald Reagan started out with the premise that America is the greatest country on earth.
Obama doesn't believe that, but tries to make us think that with him in charge, it can be!
At My House...
December 1, 2008 - 15:26 ET by stratmanA "McSteamy" is something the dog leaves in the yard in wintertime.
How this applies to Obama I will leave to others.
Oops
December 1, 2008 - 09:20 ET by KC Mulvilleaccidental double post - please delete
surface similarities
December 1, 2008 - 09:23 ET by jazzact13--Ronald Reagan inherited stagflation, a defeat abroad and a nation at its nadir in morale.--
Current economic problems are at least partially this president's fault, though by no means totally. His seeming rush to bail out the banks has led to, well, a rush of people seeking bailouts.
On the other hand, if Obama does enact his "spreak the poverty" views, then the much-hyped badness of this economy could look like a sunny spring day in comparison.
Perhaps the media can enlighten us on where we have been defeated abroad? Iraq? We took down a tyrannical madman and the country is getting some level of stability. We didn't take that "cut and run" tactic so encouraged by the libs, and it's paying off. Sorry, no defeat there, despite the shameful attempts by the left to make it so.
A country in low morale? Perhaps, but Clift and the media should begin finding the cause for that by looking in a mirror.
"Thoroughly worldly people never understand even the world; they rely altogether on a few cynical maxims which are not true."
Chesterton, Orthodoxy
The reason most lib are
December 1, 2008 - 09:27 ET by WR JonasThe reason most lib are making these riduculous comparisons is they know their man has no principles . no program and not a prayer to improve America . He is a vacant organism floundering around in an environment that the MSM controls and regardless of the reality of his futile and idiotic administration , they will always apply the rosy tint to keep him everfresh.
Good point...
December 1, 2008 - 15:21 ET by Indiana JoeWhen was the last time you heard so many people scrambling to define a President-elect by comparing him to so many past Presidents?
Of course, he's also "his own man."
Pathetic, really.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
"We win, they lose."
December 1, 2008 - 10:19 ET by CrashI can't think of anything greater than Obama channeling one of the best presidents in history. I know ... dream on.
"A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument." Hilmar von Campe
It will take some
December 1, 2008 - 10:59 ET by bradbenj5952It will take some "channeling" because it doesn't appear he has any other capabilities. And regarding Eleanor's dilusion, Barack Obama is no Ronald Reagan.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31
Anyone out there?
December 1, 2008 - 10:19 ET by SQL_SamIs anyone else annoyed like I am to see these stupid analagies (sp?) . Can we at least wait until the man becomes president to make some damn judgements? With all his liberal leanings he's more like Jimmy Carter then ANYONE, but yet you can hear the grasshoppers chirping with that analagy!
Yep - Carter with big ears, that is!
December 1, 2008 - 11:19 ET by Mary Louise TurnerMr. Obama may think he's Reagan with his oratory "skills" but he really is just Jimmy Carter with bigger ears. He even has the same stupid grin Mr. Carter has! *Sigh* We are in for a l-o-n-g four years of this garbage, folks!
Look at it this way, MLT:
December 1, 2008 - 15:19 ET by Indiana JoeLook at it this way, MLT: We're going to get a lot of laughs out of these kinds of MSM antics for the next four years, anyway.
Will it be worth the potential damage? Probably not, but at least it's something.
Might as well enjoy the show while we can.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
Excellent Point
December 1, 2008 - 11:47 ET by bradbenj5952Excellent point! The fact that the liberals must compare their man to a staunch conservative like President Ronald Reagan only proves that all the Democrat presidents with whom they could have compared Obama have fallen short...way short. Eleanor, does this tell you anything? Probably not, but it should.
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." Acts 16:31
Barak couldn't hold Mr.
December 1, 2008 - 10:23 ET by SemperrightBarak couldn't hold Mr. Reagan's jock.
Semper Fi
Freedom is not free, but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your share.
Ned Dolan
you are soooooo right....
December 1, 2008 - 16:33 ET by clinging to my guns and my religion...although i would have put it in a little more "girlie" way, lol! "the one" should not even be mentioned in the same breath with my president, ronald reagan. the only reason the msm is scurrying around (like the vermin they are) trying to "define" him is because they haven't a clue as to who he really is. if it weren't so frightening, it might be comical.
btw, thanks for your service, semperright!
"When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle." Edmund Burke
delete
December 1, 2008 - 10:26 ET by motherbeltdelete
Reagan? Never. How she
December 1, 2008 - 10:26 ET by winston smithReagan? Never. How she could come up with such a bizarre prediction while OBubba is busy resurrecting the Clinton administration clearly demonstrates the MSM's complete loss of objectivity and rationality when it comes to liberal politics. With enough lies and a few good cigars this could become Clinton Redux.
Not just a loss of "objectivity."
December 1, 2008 - 15:13 ET by Indiana JoeIt's just pure ignorance. Face it, our "political pundits" don't know beans about politics in this county, for the most part. They've found that they don't have to. Any thought that pops into their pointy little heads, no matter how asinine, will be printed and/or broadcast. How else explain labeling "Clinton Redux" as "Reagan II?"
A first-year poly-sci student would laugh out loud at that one!
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
Clift: wrong on two counts
December 1, 2008 - 10:37 ET by easygoerWhat defeat abroad? Obama is certainly not Reagan and unlike him he is liable to lose his reelection bid in a landslide. He is also no LBJ. Whatever your views of LBJ and his presidency, he was wired into Capitol Hill because he was the most masterful legislator of the 20th century, if not ever. LBJ was a senate giant; Obama a senate lightweight.
REGAN V "o" dumbo
December 1, 2008 - 10:49 ET by rick007"O" Dumbo is the next Chaves not a Regan
MSM need to learn a new chant
December 1, 2008 - 11:06 ET by littlemissmuffinMSM need to learn a new chant: (all together now....)
"That One" is a snake-oil salesman.
"That One" is an empty suit.
"That One" has no earthly idea what he's doing.
"That One" will ruin our country.
Let us get some serious help from our shrinks.
"If we conservatives moved to those seven non-existent States, the government couldn’t find us and tax us to death!"
Not only is Barry-O unfit
December 1, 2008 - 11:09 ET by R D HelmNot only is Barry-O unfit to breath the same air as did Ronald Reagan, his colossal failures will make Jimmy Carter look like an economic hero.
Socialism of the kind (or any kind, for that matter) that is being proposed by this incompetent boob of a president, who was voted into office by what is probably the most ill-informed, ignorant and economically illiterate generation this country has ever produced, can do nothing but fail.
Socialism has never worked anywhere. It won't work here, either.
The only question now is, once this man's tenure has ended, will there be enough left in place to re-build our once free economy upon?
-Dave
When in doubt, always side with freedom, as it sure beats the hell out of the alternative.
I thought the liberals
December 1, 2008 - 11:38 ET by wiwfI thought the liberals despised Ronald Reagan!
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Dave,
December 1, 2008 - 15:09 ET by Indiana JoeThere's another question left: How long will that "tenure" be? Will this ill-informed country give Obama 4 years in office, or 8?
I think this bears directly on your question. There will be less left after 8 years than after 4.
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
IJ,
December 2, 2008 - 01:27 ET by R D HelmPersonally, I'm hoping Obummer is toast in less that 2 years.
No joke. :-O
-Dave
When in doubt, always side with freedom, as it sure beats the hell out of the alternative.
Bubba II
December 1, 2008 - 11:46 ET by nkviking75Obama has more in common with Bill Clinton. Clinton's ambition was to be the president, but he really had no idea what to do with it once he got there. It was all about satisfying his ego. Obama's ego is even larger, if that's possible, but he's equally clueless.
Welcome to the era of unity, you racist!
She's an idiot!
December 1, 2008 - 12:24 ET by rossiJust like the old saying, How can you tell that a liberal is lying! She speaks out her arse!
How can you tell that a liberal is lying?
December 1, 2008 - 15:06 ET by Indiana JoeI thought it was because her lips were moving.
;^D
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
and the difference between
December 1, 2008 - 16:05 ET by rossiand the difference between her lips and Arse is what????
people, make up your mind
December 1, 2008 - 14:58 ET by katainkentObama is the next :
A. FDR
B. Lincoln
C. JFK
D. Hoover
E. Messiah
F. All of the Above
G. None of the Above
H. Other
"If you think you're finished shopping for Christmas, why not start on next year"
H. Carter
December 1, 2008 - 14:51 ET by winston smithH. Carter
AH-hahahahahahaha....
December 1, 2008 - 15:25 ET by Indiana JoePuh-LEEZE, Eleanor, baby! HERE'S the only thing about Reagan that Obama hopes to emulate:
"... his 1984 re-election campaign when he won 49 states."
Has Obama ever been re-elected to an office? Did he serve more than one term in the Illinois Senate before getting elected to Washington?
The man is a professional candidate. You just know that his every move is going to be weighed against how it will effect his campaign in 2012.
And "ace House investigator Henry Waxman?" Say what? "Investigator?" More like "populist rabble-rouser." And "ace?" Are you sure you mean "ace," Eleanor? How do you spell that? ;^D
Finally, you're right, PJ. Reagan was a subject of scorn when it suited them, now he's something to try to emulate. But only his (belatedly admitted) success, not anything about him that caused that success.
I've said it before; I could never be a liberal Democrat, if for no other reason than, yeah, I can be hypocritical... but not THAT hypocritical!
<edit: I almost forgot about this one: "Obama isn't president yet, but his determined calm and orderly transition pace appear to be soothing the financial markets, producing the first sustained gain in stocks since the mid-September meltdown." Just heard on the radio that the market is nose-diving again, S&P down 6%, couldn't listen to the rest of it. So, Eleanor, does it bother you to be wrong all the time? Ha-ha-ha-ha.... >
"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..." - The Who
Is there a doctor in the house?
December 1, 2008 - 17:07 ET by northoneDid anyone call a doctor to up Eleanor's meds?
Whiney & B#tchy
December 1, 2008 - 17:26 ET by BW222Eleanor Clift has to be one of the whineyist and b#tchiest women in history.
BW222
→ Clift
December 1, 2008 - 17:47 ET by Cool ArrowAnd when Helen Thomas croaks she will ascend to the highest rank.
WHAT WILL BE SAID?
December 1, 2008 - 19:09 ET by reelman46What will the lib-media diaper changers say when BHO is out of excuses (in a couple of years or less)? When Jimmah Carter II has arrived?
Oh, what creative explanations and blame-shifting we will witness. Mark it.
By this June some will start to be enraged that their retirement funds are still 30% down and that we are couple trillion in debt and adrift in the ineffective sea of strident secular socialism.
What will be said? Brace yourself for new additions to the language.
Doug Schexnayder, Ph.D. (theconservativecrawfish)
When your Fuhrer has no
December 1, 2008 - 20:55 ET by RR GOPWhen your Fuhrer has no real experience, nor a past he's going to let you know about, then the mind will fill in the missing spaces with all sorts of hallucinations-rather like being in a sensory deprivation chamber...
...also known as the Democratic Party.
Wow, she actually mentioned Lyndon Johnson in a kinda nice way. True desperation there for a Dem to do that!
One of the 24% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 89% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.
Obama first needs a degree in economics, 8 years as governor...
December 2, 2008 - 07:31 ET by PopularTech...and then serve in the military before he has any remote chance of becoming Reagan.
Ronald Reagan:
Age: 70 (When Elected President)
Religion:
- Presbyterian
Education:
- B.A. Economics and Sociology, Eureka College
Professional Experience:
- Actor, 1937-1965
- President, Screen Actors Guild, 1947-1952, 1959-1960
- Second Lieutenant, United States Army Reserve, 1935-1942
- Captain, United States Army Air Force, 1942-1945
Political Experience:
- Governor, California, 1966-1974 (pop: 19,953,134) (8 years)
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