Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Obama: The New Reagan?
Forbes ^ | 08.14.09 | Steven F. Hayward

Posted on 08/14/2009 9:51:18 PM PDT by Wanpeirui

President Barack Obama has rightly been regarded as the liberal equivalent of Ronald Reagan, if not the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt. Like Reagan, the current president combines an attractive and compelling personality with superb communication skills to blunt the hard edges of his ideology and appeal to the broad spectrum of non-ideological voters who decide most elections (and who decided the 2008 election).

Reagan also proved that it is possible, within limits, to govern successfully as an ideological president. Obama himself acknowledged this during the campaign, commenting that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America ... He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it." For all of his talent, however, Obama has not grasped the fine points of how Reagan succeeded in advancing his agenda.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: barfalert; leadership; noreagan; notreagan; obama; obamanoreagan; obamanotreagan; presidency; reagan
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-66 next last
This is a fairly evenhanded look at how Obama's leadership skills (and not his politics) stack up against the past presidents, in particular Reagan. I have thought from the beginning that Obama is largely incompetent and would have trouble getting much of his agenda passed, despite what the MSM said. My real fears are that some of his agenda will get through despite him, and that in his hubris and incompetence he will screw up things so badly that they can never be repaired. Obama = Carter on steroids?
1 posted on 08/14/2009 9:51:21 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
the current president combines an attractive and compelling personality with superb communication skills to blunt the hard edges of his ideology and appeal to the broad spectrum of non-ideological voters who decide most elections

"Uh, uh, uh..."
2 posted on 08/14/2009 9:56:08 PM PDT by Rodebrecht (Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
obama is diametrically opposed to Reagan in most ways. Ideology, military support, economically, socially, patriotic leanings, world view, etc.
3 posted on 08/14/2009 10:00:52 PM PDT by allmost
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

The “new” Carter.


4 posted on 08/14/2009 10:01:18 PM PDT by Rabin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rodebrecht
IMO, we have never had a president in this country who hated America until obama. His agenda for America has been to dismantle her and rebuild with a socialist/communist agenda.

Bull to all this comparing to President Reagan. Reagan loved America and hated communism.

5 posted on 08/14/2009 10:01:58 PM PDT by bareford101 (He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
Leadership skills?? Leadership skills??

Are you freaking kidding me??

PURE B.S.!!!

Obama has no skills, other than the ability to dance like a marionette on strings, controlled by Soros and his co-conspirators.

Oh, and he reads a mean teleprompter!

6 posted on 08/14/2009 10:02:22 PM PDT by airborne (WAKE UP AMERICA! OR DIE IN YOUR SLEEP!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Yeah... right....


7 posted on 08/14/2009 10:02:22 PM PDT by antceecee (Bless us Father.. have mercy on us and protect us from evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Obama and Reagan should not even be spoken in the same breath. Ronald Reagan LOVED America, Obama HATES America. Reagan never wanted our country to become socialist, Obama wants this country to become Communist. Obama is a Jimmy Carter clone


8 posted on 08/14/2009 10:02:25 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Ha!
Reagan had something to say and it was backed up by 20 years of speaking substantively on a wide range of subjects.

Obama is simply a populist BS artist with a great fear of the facts, because he can’t afford to reveal his true agenda.


9 posted on 08/14/2009 10:03:06 PM PDT by G Larry ( Obamacare=Dying in Line!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Kinda like saying that excrement is the new filet mignon because so many flies like it.


10 posted on 08/14/2009 10:03:35 PM PDT by SpaceBar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

That’s a good analogy.


11 posted on 08/14/2009 10:09:35 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Sarah Barracuda

Obama IS a Jimuuh Cahtah clone. And I’ll bet you in the whole “one term” aspect, too.


12 posted on 08/14/2009 10:11:57 PM PDT by OldGuard1
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
Obama: The New Reagan?

Reagan was a communist, who knew? ;-)

13 posted on 08/14/2009 10:17:40 PM PDT by doc1019 (Obama? Not so much.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

To be perfectly clear, I do not agree that Obama has good communication skills. I think he is full of crap, and he puts my teeth on edge whenever he speaks.
Nevertheless, I thought the article was fairly good at debunking the MSM myth that Obama has anything to offer regarding leadership skills, or that in any way Obama can be compared to Reagan.


14 posted on 08/14/2009 10:18:16 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

uhh,,,no.


15 posted on 08/14/2009 10:18:46 PM PDT by Shaka
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

The new Il Douche, yes. The new Reagan? No way in hell!


16 posted on 08/14/2009 10:18:54 PM PDT by PzLdr ("The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am" - Darth Vader)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

The article proceeds from a false premise, because it misses the most crucial difference in the election of Reagan compared with Obama.

The margin of difference in Obama’s victory was by people who elected him as a symbol, not for a specific agenda. Indeed, for the most part Obama spoke in the most general of platitudes, campaigning on the vague terms “hope” and “change.” Obama does have an extreme ideological background, but this was not publicized by the mainstream media, who held him up as a symbol of racial reconciliation.

In Reagan’s case, he was elected because of a very specific agenda that was clearly articulated in the debates and his speeches. This was in spite of unfair and sometimes vicious portrayals of Reagan in the media.

Because members of Congress understood that Reagan was elected because of his agenda, the political reality for them was to get behind the agenda in order to maintain political viability.

That is not the case with Obama; while politicians would be unwise to attack Obama personally because of his status as a symbol, Obama has no specific agenda that has been endorsed by voters and therefore should carry weight with Congress. However, Obama is fortunate to have Congress held by the same party, so he has the possibility of passing his agenda notwithstanding its unpopularity with voters, albeit at a certain political cost.


17 posted on 08/14/2009 10:19:10 PM PDT by SirJohnBarleycorn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

It starts off by saying Obama has an attractive and compelling personality. Right there it goes downhill. He has neither ingredient. Better to compare him with the cultist leaders that have gone down in flames through time. That’s all he was.

It would be an insult to compare him to an authentic personality of good nature and substantive character like Reagan.


18 posted on 08/14/2009 10:19:10 PM PDT by Soul Seeker ( qite often tha)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
Obama's 'skills' can be summed thusly: he's a good teleprompter reader.

Nothing more, and arguably much less.

BTW, welcome to FR.

19 posted on 08/14/2009 10:20:05 PM PDT by Fichori (Make a liberal cry.... Donate -> https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/ <-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

“Obama” and “Reagan” in the same sentence is, well, just unacceptable.


20 posted on 08/14/2009 10:20:36 PM PDT by DennisR (Look around - God gives countless, indisputable, and unambiguous clues that He does, indeed, exist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SpaceBar

What you said.


21 posted on 08/14/2009 10:20:57 PM PDT by Ronin (Nemo me impune lacesset)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

When in the hell did “um” and “ah” become “superb communication skills”?


22 posted on 08/14/2009 10:22:11 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (January 20th, 2013)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Where is the vomit alert ???


23 posted on 08/14/2009 10:26:31 PM PDT by libh8er
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DennisR

Though the author tried to be too evenhanded, in a very polite way I think it is exactly his point.


24 posted on 08/14/2009 10:28:03 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Obama is a liberal. He is operating under the false pretense that if only he packaged his far left slant on things that people would buy it. Well here is the problem during the election he could get away with big speeches and no meat. Now he is faced with delivering the meat and he is still trying to give a big smile and big generalities telling people that what they read with their own eyes and what they have heard him say on record as his intentions are not what they really read or heard. He is having to con the nation.

This could be the biggest con in the recorded history of this nation with only FDR as his possible rival. He is failing because people #1 have been given every reason not to trust the federal government (hell it just crashed the economy and medicare and social security are on the verge of bankruptcy) and the nation is still bleeding jobs and we are supposed to believe the government is capable of fixing Health Care or the Climate? #2 He is looking more and more like a used car salesman. People are waking up to his liberalism, they are seeing his racist undercurrent, and seeing that he has no intention of debating or listening to anyone. Barack Obama has not escaped the legacy of his father. He is behaving more and more like America’s first third world dictator.


25 posted on 08/14/2009 10:29:06 PM PDT by Maelstorm (Bigger government is not reform.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

He’s the new Carter. If he’s incompetent he can do a lot of damage, if he’s competent he can do even more.


26 posted on 08/14/2009 10:29:59 PM PDT by eclecticEel (The Most High rules in the kingdom of men ... and sets over it the basest of men.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

I visited the Reagan Memorial and presidential library in Simi Valley, CA over the weekend. To even compare the great Ronaldus Magnus to this socialist piece of excrement is BLASPHEMY.


27 posted on 08/14/2009 10:31:00 PM PDT by libh8er
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

I dropped Forbes. They have had one of Obama’s closest Chicago advisors who bankrolled his early campaign as a columnist and contributor. I will not support people who support Obama. Forbes quality had slipped too.


28 posted on 08/14/2009 10:32:08 PM PDT by Frantzie (Lou Dobbs - American Hero! Bill O'Reilly = Liar)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Maelstorm

I suspect that in a real way, this is why Obama took the position he did in regards to Zelaya in Honduras. Is it possible that in the back of his own mind he would like, in eight years, to amend the Constitution through popular referendum and buy himself another four years or more? Certainly, he thinks this should be legal in Honduras, so why not in the US?
Fortunately, I do not think he will get that far, because he lacks the skills to pull it off.


29 posted on 08/14/2009 10:33:36 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui; All
"Obama: The New Ron Reagan JR ?"

I say: YES!!!


30 posted on 08/14/2009 10:35:18 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: musicman

That’s really funny!


31 posted on 08/14/2009 10:37:31 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

You are right. Obama does not have the skills and people distrust the media who are trying to protect him. He wouldn’t even have gotten elected if he had faced the scrutiny of a normal candidate. He is also our first Affirmative Action President and a clearly racist one to boot.


32 posted on 08/14/2009 10:40:56 PM PDT by Maelstorm (Bigger government is not reform.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: libh8er

For your sake, I’ll include a vomit alert next time. I hadn’t realized that mentioning He Who Shall Not Be Named and Reagan in the same breath would result in so many queasy stomachs. My bad.


33 posted on 08/14/2009 10:41:28 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

34 posted on 08/14/2009 10:41:59 PM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 205 of our national holiday from reality. - 0bama really isn't one of US.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

I didn’t even read the article but I can tell you Obama does not even compare to Reagan. It is an insult and i am so sick and tired of these mad looney leftist even trying to compare.


35 posted on 08/14/2009 10:42:01 PM PDT by claymax ("Man is not free unless Government is limited" Ronald Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

What’s interesting is that the left and the media have said that Reagan got elected with slick marketing and packaging. This is the furthest from the truth but it is exactly one of the biggest reasons Obama got elected.


36 posted on 08/14/2009 10:43:30 PM PDT by Birch Barlow (The nine most terrifying words in English are, I'm from the govt and I'm here to help you.-Reagan)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
The truth is Obama is any empty suit. He is totally LOST without his trusty teleprompter. Obama is a pathological liar. His goal is the destruction of this country and make it into a third world nation while giving out wealth AWAY to other third world nations to “level the GLOBAL playing field.” THIS is what he meant by “spreading the wealth around” - not just to the LAZY in the U.S.. Listen to how Obama speaks about America's WEALTH. He says it in a MOCKING way. He doesn't love this country. He's no citizen. Lastly Obama has NO ORATORY SKILLS. He sounds like a typical black, street thug - so for some these “oratory” skills being raved about tell me this is the best a black man can hope for.

Otoh, someone like Keyes or Sowell are incredibly elegant in their speech without a teleprompter.
Bottom line, Obama is no "Reagan".

37 posted on 08/14/2009 10:45:06 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Fichori

“Barry Can Read”—the title of a children’s book, or a good reason to elect someone president?


38 posted on 08/14/2009 10:47:15 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

He’ll have about as much success as “the new Reagan” as a certain company in Atlanta had with “the new Coke.” The country will almost certainly continue to strongly prefer “classic Reagan.”


39 posted on 08/14/2009 10:47:57 PM PDT by sourcery (Obama Lied. The Economy Died!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sourcery

I thought of exactly that analogy when I finished reading the article. People want the real thing, and there’s nothing real about BHO.


40 posted on 08/14/2009 10:53:46 PM PDT by Wanpeirui
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
Hmm, I'll contend that people didn't actually vote for Barry.

They voted for the illusion created by the guy who programmed the teleprompter ;-)

Hopenchangium ya know!
41 posted on 08/14/2009 10:58:10 PM PDT by Fichori (Make a liberal cry.... Donate -> https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/ <-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

Leadership skills? Yeah, he can sure lead an economy off a cliff. Other than that, how has he led??? It is a BS comparison.


42 posted on 08/14/2009 11:00:16 PM PDT by NonValueAdded (Why Does Obama Want Health Care in 4 Weeks When it Took Him 6 Months to Pick a Dog?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

LOL!

Obama’s leadership skills? The man HAS NO leadership skills beyond an ability to speak cliches in a pleasant baritone. Pelosi is the de facto President because there is a leadership vaccuum.

The man is as incompetent and ineffectual (thank God) in the White House as he was as CEO of CAC in Chicago.


43 posted on 08/14/2009 11:19:24 PM PDT by cookcounty ("Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." ---Yeats)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
0bama is no Ronald Reagan! Reagan loved this country. 0bama hates it to the point of doing his damnedest to destroy it.
44 posted on 08/14/2009 11:25:56 PM PDT by celtic gal (My Mob name is" Molly Maguire" per Hannity...we all need mob names !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
0bama does not have the slightest interest in running for office again, He is more interested in a coronation..he wants to wear a crown and declare himself, not President for Life, that is not regal enough for a narcassist like him. No he wants to be the first King of America and known as such.
45 posted on 08/14/2009 11:32:44 PM PDT by celtic gal (My Mob name is" Molly Maguire" per Hannity...we all need mob names !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
God Bless your soul, President Reagan.

Goodness, how I miss you.


46 posted on 08/14/2009 11:56:10 PM PDT by Prole (Please pray for the families of Chris and Channon. May God always watch over them.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Prole

That picture puts alot into perspective. Obama likes a militant society and functions well within it. Reagan wanted a civil society with a military to protect it.


47 posted on 08/15/2009 12:08:43 AM PDT by eyedigress
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui

not now, not EVER! No comparison whatsoever.


48 posted on 08/15/2009 12:34:16 AM PDT by tina07 (In loving memory of my father,WWII Vet. CBI 10/16/42-12/17/45, d. 11/1/85 -Happy B'day Daddy 2/20/23)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Wanpeirui
Tell you what there Sparkplug, here's an uncomfortable factoid that is inescapable for TKU [The Kenyan Usurper], and that is that he has LESS experience than even the abysmal, scum-sucking, terrorist-loving, Buffoon from Georgia himself, Jimmy STP Carter.

And it shows.



PS - Welcome to FR.
49 posted on 08/15/2009 12:44:11 AM PDT by mkjessup (Hey Comrade 0bama? No documentation = No eligibility, ok? Now GTF out of OUR White House!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkjessup
STP = Screw The Pooch
50 posted on 08/15/2009 12:46:06 AM PDT by mkjessup (Hey Comrade 0bama? No documentation = No eligibility, ok? Now GTF out of OUR White House!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-5051-66 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson