Bill Clinton, and to a lesser extent Jimmy Carter, were beneficiaries of the hero-worship.
O'bama is the perfect storm, though. In addition to the plain old vanilla hero worship, he's got the politically-correct crowd on his side. Being black, and maybe Muslim, just adds to the attraction.
Carter, Clinton and Hussein types (liberals) appeal to the extremely weak who are looking for a “Daddy” to take care of all their needs forever so they won’t ever have to worry about what is happening in the big bad world.