Posted on 01/21/2009 6:49:35 AM PST by MaestroLC
Americans would like to see incoming President Barack Obama use Ronald Reagan as a role model.
When given the choice of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, JFK, Dwight Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan – registered voters overwhelmingly said they want the new Democratic president to emulate the late conservative Republican president, who held office in the 1980’s.
“Reagan was the overwhelming favorite among Republican voters," said Ron Faucheaux, president of Clarus Research Group, the nonpartisan Washington, D.C., company that conducted the poll.
"He received 59 percent as the president GOP voters want Obama to emulate. Nobody else came close."
But Reagan got the highest support of any president overall, regardless of party affiliation, at 26 percent -- followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt at 18 percent. JFK was third (17 percent) and Abraham Lincoln fourth (13 percent.)
Faucheaux sees the pick as something of a surprise.
“The media has generally been focusing on Lincoln, I think, as an historic parallel, and to some extent on Roosevelt and Kennedy,” Faucheaux told CNSNews.com. “In many ways, historically, Roosevelt is probably the most accurate parallel, in terms of the economy and electing a president offering change, hope and new confidence to try recover some very difficult economic problems.”
But Peter Schram, director of the Ashbrook Center for Public Policy at Ashland University, wasn’t at all surprised that Americans would choose The Gipper.
“Of the recent presidents, I think the one that has been most successful in the public imagination has been Ronald Reagan,” Schram told CNSNews.com. “I think that is probably historically accurate as well.
“He stood for certain things with a kind of clarity and seemed to – and in fact, did – carry on an eight-year long administration with those principles in mind.”
Schram said Americans genuinely liked Ronald Reagan.
“He seemed to speak his mind, and act with some judgment, but always keeping his principles in mind somehow – he didn’t float away or become 'pragmatic' or something like that,” the conservative scholar added.
Professor Paul Kengor of Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., said Reagan is still extraordinarily popular in many quarters – so much so, many GOP committees have started holding Reagan Day dinners in February, alongside the annual Lincoln Day fundraisers.
Reagan’s popularity goes far beyond the Republican tent, however, Kengor told CNSNews.com.
“People on the far left – and I emphasize ‘far’ left – who are critical of Reagan, don’t realize how extreme they are,” Kengor said. “The vast majority of Americans like Reagan – and a very large majority of that adores Reagan.
Kengor, author of “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism,” said Reagan was the top choice of an AOL online survey on Greatest American of All Time.
“This wasn’t ‘Who’s the greatest president?’ This was, ‘Who’s the greatest American?’ Ronald Reagan won.”
Reagan was an extremely effective president, Kengor said.
“He was widely credited with having won the Cold War – and having done so peacefully,” Kengor added. “He predicted Communism would end up on the ash-heap of history. He pursued precisely that objective, and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 near the end of his presidency.’
Faucheaux, meanwhile, said he thinks the voters’ pick has everything to do with what voters hope to see out of Obama.
‘I think what its saying is that the American people are looking for someone as president who can provide confidence, someone who can provide a sense of change and leadership, and someone who is a great communicator,” Faucheaux added.
Interestingly, several presidents fared poorly in the survey. Founding Fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson received 4 and 3 percent support, respectively. Cold War Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower also received 4 and 3 percent among all voters. Theodore Roosevelt, a progressive Republican, captured 4 percent; Democrat Andy Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, received 1 percent.
Schram, however, isn’t surprised that Washington was near the bottom of the list.
“Washington is a god-like figure,” he said. “Nobody patterns himself after Washington. Washington and Lincoln are problems, because they are incomparable.
“Obama is at a disadvantage but, bless his soul for this, he is paying homage to Lincoln -- which I think is a great thing, for all kinds of reasons -- partly because he wants to revivify the things for which Lincoln stood in a more fundamental way; partly because there is some kind of ironic debt he owes to Lincoln as a black man.”
The nationwide telephone survey was conducted Jan. 13-18, among a random, representative sample of 1,000 registered voters.
Conservatives should be energized and ready to fight right now.
Time for a 2009 conservative revolution. First we get rid of the moderates, then the socialists.
Now is the time.
The problem is, Democrats define “emulating Ronald Reagan” as “fooling the masses with slick packaging and lots of hype”.
Maybe the RNC should emulate Reagan for a change.
Wow, a new GAME SHOW. “Polling for Personality”
So who is Obama? Jeckyl or Hyde? Somehow I don’t think Reagan is in the mix for the bonus round.
Not a chance.
Obama promised to push the most radical pro-abortion agenda EVER, by FAR.
Reagan was pro-life.
Obama says that Government is the solution to the problem.
Reagan said that Governement is not the soluton, but the problem.
They couldn’t be more different.
What the people are telling the pollsters goes beyond congnitive dissonance.
It is delusional.
John T. Flynn nailed the current situation down about 60 years ago...
Chapter 4 - The New New Deal
In the beginning, of course, was Roosevelt. And then came the Brain Trust. After that we had the Great Man and the Brain Trust. The casual reader may suppose this is just a catch collection of syllables. But it is impossible to estimate the power these few words exercised upon the minds of the American people. After all, a crowd of big business boobies, a lot of butterfingered politicians, two big halls full of shallow and stupid congressmen and senators had made a mess of America. That was the bill of goods sold to the American people. Now amidst the ruins appeared not a mere politician, not a crowd of tradesmen and bankers and congressmen, but a Great Man attended by a Brain Trust to bring understanding first and then order out of chaos.
Actually there are no big men in the sense in which Big Men are sold to the people. There are men who are bigger than others and a few who are wiser and more courageous and farseeing than these. But it is possible with the necessary pageantry and stage tricks to sell a fairly bright fellow to a nation as an authentic BIG Man. Actually this is developing into an art, if not a science. It takes a lot of radio, movie, newspaper and magazine work to do it, but it can be done.
http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/book/hbzfrm.htm
Thanks to FReeper Race Bannon for the link. (Great read...through Chapter 5)
Obama isn’t fit to lick Ronald Reagan’s shoes.
He hasn’t got time for Reagan, he has moved on to God emulation.
I'm not so sure. Voters are idiots. I bet more than 35% of the people that voted this past election couldn't pick Reagan out of a lineup, let alone understand anything that Reagan stood for. You can't vote for Barack Obama and at the same time want him to emulate Ronald Reagan - It is intellectually incongruous.
You can't call the nation center-right when we have overwhelming Democratic majorities in Congress, a majority of Democratic Governors and the most leftist Democratic President ever. The pendulum swung decidedly towards the left. And, I would say it began swinging during Clinton's term. Sure, we had a Republican President and Congress, but they were anything but conservatives. With the exception of social issues, the last twenty years have been increasingly socialist - not very Reagan-like.
We need to seriously reconsider who should be able to vote in this country!
I’m laughing at the irony of this.
0bama is not even in the same league as The Gipper. There’s no way he could even come close to emulating Reagan.
What? The majority of American people have elected a man who was raised a muslim, hated himself first (did the cocaine thing)and his country second (no evidence of college writings). Renaldus Magnus always loved his country, even while being the President of the Actors Union (such courage!)and didn’t just find love of country during a successful political campaign. “OOps, I won the election - now I have to love this country!” Has any of the MSM in the past day’s orgasm asked Michelle if she’s proud of her country yet?
Ditto
So Obama will become Conservative; because otherwise Obama” You’re no Ronald W. Reagan”!
I’m afraid all it shows is that all those millions of voters who thought even for one second that Obama would be another Ronald Reagan in office are as dumb as rocks.
He is the anti-Reagan, if there ever was one.
encouraging? hardly. it just shows how ignorant people are about who has been elected.
and if they are not ignorant... it shows that people see 0bama as more conservative then mccain.
and if you are interested in fixing something, you better secure your ability to get the word out. right now, you must pass through the liberal filter to reach the vast majority of people. it’s time someone puts out (another?) conservative news station / newspaper... and advertise it as such. with over 40m conservatives, you have a guaranteed base of viewers/readers which to sell to advertisers.
Fools.
LOL.....great remark!!
Conservatism is alive and well-we’re just waiting for it on the Hill. B#stards!!!!
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