In the New, the Very Old

First, Barack Obama praised Ronald Regan over the weekend. Then he gave Bill O’Reilly, the king of the “evil channel” Fox News, an interview. On Monday, he presented to the Chamber of Commerce. What is up with Obama? Is he reinventing himself?

What is up with Barack Obama? First, this weekend in USA Today, he praised his predecessor (four presidents ago) Ronald Reagan, on whose hundredth birthday fell on Sunday. Obama then gave an interview to Bill O’Reilly, the King of the “evil channel” Fox News. And on Monday, he presented to the Chamber of Commerce. He hasn’t spoken to this assembly of economic captains since his administration began over two years ago.

Is Obama reinventing himself? Is the 44th president simply emulating the 40th president? Actually, in the weeks during which the nation prepared for the centennial birthday of “the Great Communicator” and conqueror of Communism, comparisons between Reagan and Obama were even more striking.

The 40th president also had to fight the bad favor of voters. Like Reagan, Obama now stands suddenly before an opposition-dominated House of Representatives. The economy is languishing, the unemployment rate is high. Unshaken, the president presented his economic policy before the ranks of the opposition. The economy is picking up speed, the contagiously optimistic president dealt the opposition’s hand, and on the world stage, the superpower began to shine. Reagan’s presidency began in 1984 with a new self-confidence that it carried to a triumphant re-election. No wonder, then, that Obama took with him a Reagan biography on Christmas vacation.

Personally and Politically Obama Has Remained the Same

Being from the liberal party, Obama openly detests the tax cuts that his predecessor George W. Bush passed for all income brackets. And yet he extended them for two years. He named banker William Daley as his Chief of Staff and called the CEO from General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt, to be the point man among his economic advisers. He pushed the free trade agreement with South Korea. He put the reduction of corporate taxes into view and recently ensnared Republicans for allegedly illicit political donations. And the Chamber of Commerce is the most prominent job machine of the nation. Of course, to Bill O’Reilly’s question — has he moved toward the political middle — Obama answered flatly “no.” He remains, he says, personally and politically the same man that he has always been.

Moreover, the tasks of the economy and the open hand for design and innovation must be added in order to help create urgently needed jobs. Notwithstanding, there is a new legal dispute over Obama’s health care legislation, the most important reform project of the past two years. Obama, at the same time, assured us that he would not open this debate again. Obama knows that today he’s looking not only at his diehard opponents on Fox News. Immediately afterward, attention was switched to the Super Bowl in Texas, the World Cup of American Football.