"If Obama wins, to put it bluntly, he will become the Democrats’ Reagan.
The narrative writes itself. He will emerge as an iconic figure who
struggled through a recession and a terrorized world, reshaping the
economy within it, passing universal health care, strafing the ranks of
al -Qaeda, presiding over a civil-rights revolution, and then enjoying
the fruits of the recovery. To be sure, the Obama recovery isn’t likely
to have the same oomph as the one associated with Reagan—who benefited
from a once-in-a-century cut of top income tax rates (from 70 percent
to, at first, 50 percent, and then to 28 percent) as well as a huge jump
in defense spending at a time when the national debt was much, much
less of a burden.
"But Obama’s potential for Reagan status (maybe minus
the airport-naming) is real. Yes, Bill Clinton won two terms and is a
brilliant pol bar none, as he showed in Charlotte in the best speech of
both conventions. But the crisis Obama faced on his first day—like the
one Reagan faced—was far deeper than anything Clinton confronted, and
the future upside therefore is much greater. And unlike Clinton’s
constant triangulating improvisation, Obama has been playing a long,
strategic game from the very start—a long game that will only truly pay
off if he gets eight full years to see it through. That game is not only
changing America. It may also bring his opposition, the GOP, back to
the center, just as Reagan indelibly moved the Democrats away from the
far left." -
Andrew Sullivan, in the cover story of the latest issue of
Newsweek.
Reposted from Joe
