Upon first witnessing Barack Obama on the campaign trail, I thought he might be something different, or maybe even new, in American politics. The more I saw of him, the more I suspected he was a conventional figure–basically this generation’s Gary Hart. But some time around Wisconsin it occurred to me that Obama might actually be this generation’s Adlai Stevenson. Events since then have tended to support this theory, which seems to have occurred to others as well. A Democrat Bill Kristol spoke with recently observed that Obama was “in the Stevenson reform mold out of Illinois, with a dash of Harvard disease thrown in.” Michael Barone did a very nice job teasing out some parallels, noting that:
And George Will picked up on it yesterday, recalling that the Stevenson campaign presaged many of the themes and postures the Obama campaign is using now:
None of this is meant pejoratively, but only as (1) another interesting lens through which to observe the dynamics of the race and (2) a reminder that there is very little new under the sun–despite what some excitable, forgetful commentators might proclaim. I suspect that in the coming months we’ll see many more similarities between the two candidates’ styles, messages, and supporters. (Although it seems at this point that Obama’s chances of winning the presidency are much greater than Stevenson’s were.)
