Obama's Reagan parallels are falling away

[redrumloa]

Obama's Reagan parallels are falling away

And this points to the real reason why the Reagan parallel just doesn't work. As much as it may annoy Obama and his supporters to hear it, the reason why Reagan's rhetoric was effective is that voters believed it was matched to successful policies. Meanwhile many of Obama's top priorities -- health care reform, green energy, etc. -- have had, at best, a tangential connection to the economic recovery and arguably, as in the case of energy, they've made things worse. Political scientist Brendan Nyhan has rightly pointed out that even Reagan's communications strategy didn't improve media coverage or his standing in public opinion polls. Reagan's popularity recovered with the economic recovery. (The media coverage, however, remained relentlessly hostile until a few years ago.)
In recent weeks, it seems that the White House has discovered that, barring an entirely unforeseen economic boom, the Reagan analogy is a non-starter for them. That spells an ironic challenge for Obama, because it probably means that he will have to run a base election whereby he galvanizes his core supporters and hopes red meat and turnout numbers will save him. In short, it means the president will be emulating George W. Bush's re-election strategy even as he pins all his problems on George W. Bush.

 

[Fade]

 

[the_leander]

I always figured the comparison was based on the fact that both were full of shit...

 

[metalman]

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

Reagan is a saint. Death and the myth making of an institution can really elevate even mediocre individuals. It's really hard to compete against the dead especially when they have such an unquestioning choir.

If there were any "parallels" they were only drawn by political strategists to deflect Republican criticism by tossing their favourite saint at them. Both the allusions to Reagan made by the Democrats and the elevation of Reagan to sainthood by the Republicans are cynical politicking.

 

[Robert]

I always figured the comparison was based on the fact that both were full of shit...

That was exactly what I thought when I saw this thread title.