Piloting a scandal-ridden administration, including the investigation into sicking the IRS on his political foes, Obama easily invites the Nixon comparison. Which isn’t intended as a compliment.
Perhaps he takes it that way, though, since Richard “I’m not a crook” Nixon makes Obama’s list of praiseworthy Republican presidents.
Speaking at yet another Democratic fundraiser, this one at the home of Hollywood director Robert Rodrguez in Austin, Texas, Obama tried to move past partisan talking points, saying that he “wasn’t raised sharply partisan.”
“My mom, she had good old-fashioned liberal, progressive values but she wasn’t involved in politics and my favorite president is a Republican named Abraham Lincoln,” Obama said. “And so my attitude is that, historically, both parties have done really important work. You have Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, started the national parks, and Dwight Eisenhower build the Interstate Highway System, and Richard Nixon started the EPA.”
Obama repeated the line at a public event at the Paramount theater in Austin, where he again praised Nixon’s achievements in founding the EPA. We won’t quibble with his selection of favorite president. Abraham Lincoln is a fine choice. But Nixon sounds almost like a Freudian slip.
Perhaps Obama doesn’t realize that Nixon comparisons aren’t meant to be complimentary. He has tried hard enough to follow in Nixon’s footsteps, wiretapping reporters, loosing the IRS on his political opponents and running one of the least-transparent administrations in recent history. He even bested Nixon and was ranked the worst president since WWII.
Still, his Watergate moment never comes.
