Someday, Obama may run out of presidents to whom he wants to compare himself. Not yet, though. Having been called the new Franklin Roosevelt, the new and reverse Ronald Reagan, the black Abraham Lincoln, and the fifth Kennedy brother (by Christopher Matthews), he has now reached out and poached the second and earlier Roosevelt cousin, the Bull Moose in person, old T.R. himself. At first glance, the burly, exuberant (may we say ‘manic’?) scion of Dutch aristocracy may seem unlike the slim, reserved (may we say ‘chilly’?) waif from Hawaii. But where the will exists, ways will be found.
Along the way, he also found time to explain that he would model his election strategy on that of Harry S. Truman, and his foreign policy on that of George H.W. Bush. (He has often of course been compared to a certain ex-peanut farmer from Georgia, but never, alas, by himself. ) This reflects his failure to have done anything at all to distinguish himself , as the things he has done — the stimulus, health care, green industry pork — have all failed or been very unpopular, whereas on the real problems that are now facing this country — the stagnant economy, Middle East crises — he has done nothing at all.
One problem with trying to recycle the speech of a beloved and iconic Republican president is that when Roosevelt made it he was no longer president or a Republican, but an ex-president about to ride a third party bid to defeat two years later — not exactly a promising precedent.
Another problem for Obama the middle-class hero is the news that his campaign and his party are writing off the white working-class vote, in favor of an up-and-down coalition of the needy and government-dependent and upmarket, uppity whites. The first practical result of this political calculation was the scrapping of plans to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. The decision stiffs both our good northern neighbor as well as the 20,000 Americans who might have worked on the pipeline. It pleases wealthy green activists who wanted it stopped.
A third problem: No better example exists of the corrupt ‘unfairness’ at the heart of the system than Obama’s good friend, former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. In his new position as CEO of the commodities brokerage firm MF Global, Corzine managed to lose track of $1.2 billion of his customers’ money. Corzine used his Goldman Sachs fortune to buy two elected offices, then used his political clout to get his new job. Now he has destroyed another large portion of the economy all on his own.
Obama made repeated campaign appearances for Corzine in 2009 (he still got trounced by Chris Christie). Joe Biden praised him lavishly: “‘We need folks like Jon today … smart, honest, serious and tough politicians who get it.”
When will Obama and Biden come out and denounce their old buddy? Do not hold your breath.
What would Theodore Roosevelt do? Not suck up to Jon Corzine, probably. It is also unlikely that Teddy or any of the other presidents to whom Obama was likened would ever have traded the jobs of needy Americans to please the film stars and trust fund recipients who make up the green movement’s base.
This is the difference between the real thing and a failed and faded facsimile, who will inspire no other people at all.
Examiner Columnist Noemie Emery is contributing editor to TheWeekly Standard and author of “Great Expectations: The Troubled Lives of Political Families.”
