Centerfield

Nice. I think Obama has sold me as my dem of choice on his own merits now, even though I support him by default. I don't support him in the general election, but I certainly hope he gets there.

Good point Brian. The context does help here, although I think he's being unfair to Clinton. I'm one of the those liberals who willing to give the Gipper his due (he basically won the Cold War). I don't have the visceral opposition to Reagan as many lefties do.

That being said, he is going to have to continue to elucidate the context, if he's going to use the Reagan example as a model.

I suspect the right will be equally frustrated by this.

Oops, I mean Kranky Kritter. I thought you were someone else.

No you didn't.

Ummm, actually I did.

Well, I think you're all missing the boat. The essential ingredient of Reagan was confidence, not hope or change. Some say confidence is the combination of hope and successful pragmitism. Ronnie restored confidence in ourselves, following Watergate, Carter and the Vietnam war. His "words" represented a far greater ideology and plan in which people gradually became confident. Clinton also restored our condidence after years of high interests rates and "drifting" without a Democrat at the helm showing bipartisanism. Bill's hope was anchored on moving towards the center and making America stronger economically. Obama should show some balls, ditch Democratic massage theory and hail supply side economics, unilateral foreign policy, neutron bombs and secrecy.

Again Barak attempts to lift history's rhetoric from record, words form context. You can't have meaningful messages without the meat. Sure, America wanted hope and change from the Carter administration (wonder if Carter will endorse Obama now). America wanted to get past the Vietnam syndrome which some of Obama's supporting think a fitting therapy for us today.

So hope and change don't mean very much if voters aren't confident in the person's plans, values, policies and vision. You don't evoke much confidence in blasting sanctions against Iran while praising them before AIPAC, pandering Left of Hillary when it suits you and then waxing Reagan and JFK.

You don't dimiss the news from Iraq because it contradicts your central campaign slogan. You don't encourage unity by calling the next President the Janitor of the world cleaning up all the world's problem tagged as Bush's fault. Voters aren't confident in a candidate changing positions, quoting a new great former leader every two weeks or calling another Democratic candidate a Republican lite while hailing Reagan's hope. I never heard Reagan saying it was time for America to roll over political opposition like the doors of segregation.

Do I see an attempt to confuse Independents and counter as indirectly as possible assertions Obama is not a strong kick ass leader like Reagan? Sure do.

Clinton and Nixon....LOL a good one. The only two term Democrat in fifty years who would beat all the candidates today and he is placed along side one the Republican's worst. I'm not sure who Obama is trying to score points with, Republicans or Democrats. I'm not sure he knows.

Also news flash: The Democrats set about to make many things accountable after Nixon. There was the Watergate deal, the Church Committe and a host of regulations, laws and reforms designed to make government accountable.

Then there was Carter who hailed talking to our enemies and human rights. Maybe Obama might see that Reagan came forward to change our direction following Nixon, Ford and Carter, but however way you slice it, the hope, change and confidence Reagan championed was drenched in tax cuts, stronger military, unilateralism, shows of force, tough rhetoric, deregulation, secrecy, covert operations and most of what the Democrats accuse Bush of.

Of course, no one compares Obama to Reagan, but the select comparison Obama speaks of is rather meaningless without the whole enchilada. The confidence Reagan rode in on was based on policies, convictions and principles well established. And he was successful in large part due to the mess that preceeded him and American's didn't want to hang their heads low or see our troops die in the deserts outside of Tehran. He tapped the frustration with submission whether Japanese or Iranian, Russian or Chinese. Can one really suspend such context while talking about particular rhetoric of a particular day?

And I didn't make any comparisons nor vilify Reagan. He actually far exceeded my expectations and I learned something about State Craft from him. One negotiates best from a position of strength and that Western hegemony is not a dirty concept when benign, united and prosperous.

I'll join the party. Like Kritter, I hated him. Part of might've been living in the extra-partisan air of DC, but I feel like he started it - Reagan loved to stereotype and insult bureaucrats like my patriotic, smart, and hardworking parents. And I still have a low opinion of many of his policies.

But you know, as I see it, every blogger bears Reagan a debt of gratitude for making the Internet as we know it feasible by breaking up AT&T. AT&T refused to sell the high-bandwidth service needed to stitch the Internet together at reasonable speed. That goes double for me, because I started out doing Internet stuff.

I used to think Reagan was stupid. But there was alot more going on than I understood. I've come to feel that Reagan had a successful symbiosis going on. He really was a Great Communicator, and he also had a really good team who did the understanding and doing.

But you know, as I see it, every blogger bears Reagan a debt of gratitude for making the Internet as we know it feasible by breaking up AT&T. AT&T refused to sell the high-bandwidth service needed to stitch the Internet together at reasonable speed. That goes double for me, because I started out doing Internet stuff.

You know, I never thought of it that way. Good point. I'll say again that while I find muself opposing a number of Reagan's policies, he did do a number of good things, and deserves the credit for them.

Kranky, you're refreshingly balanced. I too spent my twenties thinking Reagan was the very devil; in later years I came to think that the electorate was smarter than I was, that many of the changes he called for were needed, that most importantly his 'peace through strength' worked. The Reagan riff was vintage Obama, the fruit of long meditation and a coherent political philosophy that's developed through his life's work, starting with the coalition building learned in his years as a Chicago organizer.