10-25-2016, 02:45 AM
(10-22-2016, 08:10 PM)Here I go with one of my favorite posts. Do you want to compare Eisenhower and Obama? Wrote: When all is said and done, I think that the Obama and Eisenhower Presidencies are going to look like good analogues because the two Presidents are similar in temperament and to their position in the generational order. Both Presidents are chilly rationalists. Both respect legal precedents more than they trust legislation and the transitory will of the people in states. Both had practically scandal-free administrations. Both started with a troublesome war that both found their way out of. Neither did much to 'grow' the strength of their Parties in either House of Congress. In the 2008 election, Barack Obama won only one state that Eisenhower lost in either 1952 or 1956 (North Carolina); in 2012 he did not win any state that Dwight Eisenhower ever lost. This is amazing in view of the partisan identities of the two Presidents.
It may be premature, but I expect historians to hold Eisenhower and Obama similar in quality.
Barack Obama is not a military man... but I can imagine what sort he would be as a senior officer -- the sort who has a spit-and-polish culture that relaxes only as needed under fire. The best way to deal with an army under the command of such a general is to get out of the tanks and fox-holes and put both arms up high. He would surely insist that terms of the Geneva Convention be followed to the letter.
Despite the great differences in curricula vitae, Eisenhower and Obama seem to have something very much in common: both are members of Reactive generations. 60-ish Reactives (George Washington, John Adams, Grover Cleveland, Harry Truman, and Dwight Eisenhower) may be the best sorts of leaders that Reactive leaders can be: cautious, mellow, respectful of precedent, and more trusting in legality than in the contemporary passion. Even if Barack Obama is one of the youngest Presidents ever elected and won't reach or surpass 60 as President (barring an amendment to undo the 22nd Amendment) he seems to act like someone in his sixties.
(The worst Reactive leaders are amoral, angry, cynical, bigoted leaders with an agenda of seeking revenge against real and imagined personal enemies -- like Adolf Hitler and Mao Zedong, puppets of tyrannical leaders such as Vidkun Quisling and Mátyás Rákosi, and such brutal functionaries of tyrants as Heinrich Himmler, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Andrei Vishinsky and Lavrenti Beria). When all is said and done, I think that the Obama and Eisenhower Presidencies will themselves look like good analogues reflecting their chilly rationalism, rigid adherence to legal precedent, cozy relationships with the intelligence services, and starting with a troublesome war that both found their way out of. Neither did much to 'grow' the strength of their Parties in either House of Congress.
The definitive moderate Republican may have been Dwight Eisenhower, and I have heard plenty of Democrats praise the Eisenhower Presidency. He went along with Supreme Court rulings that outlawed segregationist practices, stayed clear of the McCarthy bandwagon, and let McCarthy implode.
gray -- did not vote in 1952 or 1956
white -- Eisenhower twice, Obama twice
deep blue -- Republican all four elections
light blue -- Republican all but 2008 (I assume that greater Omaha went for Ike twice)
light green -- Eisenhower once, Stevenson once, Obama never
dark green -- Stevenson twice, Obama never
pink -- Stevenson twice, Obama once
No state voted Democratic all four times, so no state is in deep red.
(This site uses the very old red for Democrats and blue for Republicans... I do not make waves about that in that website).
To be sure, one would expect any winning President to win almost entirely states that FDR won in 1936 (all then voting except Vermont and Maine), that Nixon won in 1972 (all but Massachusetts), or Reagan won in 1980 (all but Minnesota). But the overlay between Obama and Eisenhower fits far better includes all four such states that FDR, Nixon, and Reagan won in nearly-complete wins of the entire USA. As another coincidence, Eisenhower was the first Republican to win Virginia since 1928 (24 years) and Obama was the first Democrat to win the Old Dominion since 1964 (44 years) -- and both won the state twice.
...I see Obama winning just about everything that Ike won except those parts of America in which ranching is the predominant agriculture , basically Texas, Arizona, and a bunch of states with few electoral votes. I'm guessing that ranchers typically have stormy relationships with the federal government especially if it is rather liberal.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.