Free Republic

During the 2008 Democratic primaries, then-Sen. Barack Obama caused a stir when he said, "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not, and in a way that Bill Clinton did not." Pundits speculated whether the optimistic, charismatic, Obama could move the nation's politics to the left in a way comparable to how President Reagan had moved the country to the right. This comparison took hold early in the Obama presidency as his approval ratings nose-dived in a pattern similar to Reagan's. The problem now for Democrats is that, though both presidents...

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...