Christopher Beam: He's Lincoln! No, He's FDR! No, He's Polk!
Presidential comparison isn't the most rigorous form of political analysis. Bill Clinton was the next JFK, until he was Warren G. Harding, and then Jimmy Carter. George W. Bush was Teddy Roosevelt until he was James Buchanan. And Barack Obama, if you believe everything you read, combines the best of every single ex-president, except perhaps Millard Fillmore.
The most common comparisons, of course, are between Obama and Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. The Lincoln analogy stems from the Illinois origins, the out-of-nowhere rise, and the uncommon eloquence. (Obama hasn't exactly discouraged the comparison, launching his candidacy in Springfield, quoting Lincoln in speeches, and taking the oath of office on Lincoln's Bible.) Driving the FDR analogy is the corresponding economic crisis and the shared conviction that government can be a positive force. And the Kennedy comparison comes from Obama's youth, good looks, and optimism.
These analogies reflect well on Obama, given how history has smiled on these particular exes. But historical comparisons work the other way, too. Not only can they bathe the incoming president in the warm glow of a legendary figure, but they also can burnish the reputations of the old guys by making their legacies seem newly relevant. Obama may benefit from the Lincoln, FDR, and JFK comparisons. But so do Lincoln, FDR, and JFK.
It's no surprise, then, that groups dedicated to the upkeep of presidential legacies—the ex-presidents' lobbies—are likening their guys to Obama. The Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute wasted no time in cutting a video that compares FDR's famous inaugural addresses with Obama's and featuring it prominently on its Web site. The Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, created by an act of Congress and based in Washington, D.C., has invited Obama to lay a wreath in Springfield, Ill., on Abe's birthday, Feb. 12. (Obama accepted today.) At its many panels on Lincoln's legacy, the Obama connection has frequently come up. Meanwhile, the Lincoln Home, a national historic site in Springfield, plans to stage a play for Lincoln's birthday that will draw a line from Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to Martin Luther King Jr. all the way to Barack Obama....
Read entire article at Slate
The most common comparisons, of course, are between Obama and Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy. The Lincoln analogy stems from the Illinois origins, the out-of-nowhere rise, and the uncommon eloquence. (Obama hasn't exactly discouraged the comparison, launching his candidacy in Springfield, quoting Lincoln in speeches, and taking the oath of office on Lincoln's Bible.) Driving the FDR analogy is the corresponding economic crisis and the shared conviction that government can be a positive force. And the Kennedy comparison comes from Obama's youth, good looks, and optimism.
These analogies reflect well on Obama, given how history has smiled on these particular exes. But historical comparisons work the other way, too. Not only can they bathe the incoming president in the warm glow of a legendary figure, but they also can burnish the reputations of the old guys by making their legacies seem newly relevant. Obama may benefit from the Lincoln, FDR, and JFK comparisons. But so do Lincoln, FDR, and JFK.
It's no surprise, then, that groups dedicated to the upkeep of presidential legacies—the ex-presidents' lobbies—are likening their guys to Obama. The Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute wasted no time in cutting a video that compares FDR's famous inaugural addresses with Obama's and featuring it prominently on its Web site. The Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, created by an act of Congress and based in Washington, D.C., has invited Obama to lay a wreath in Springfield, Ill., on Abe's birthday, Feb. 12. (Obama accepted today.) At its many panels on Lincoln's legacy, the Obama connection has frequently come up. Meanwhile, the Lincoln Home, a national historic site in Springfield, plans to stage a play for Lincoln's birthday that will draw a line from Abraham Lincoln to Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman to Martin Luther King Jr. all the way to Barack Obama....
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