How Obama is Similar to Reagan

Posted by Joe Rivett on 05.16.2008

Ideologically speaking they are not similar. Yet, what they do have in common is that they are adored by the public for reasons other than their ideological beliefs...

The 70s sucked for America. Americans were used to the robust economic growth from the Post World War II era to Nixon's first term. However, a little cartel named OPEC came along and sharply raised gas prices. To make matters worse, Vietnam was officially lost in 1973, oh wait, we declared victory and left. Two years later, Vietnam was really lost as the North Vietnamese defeated the South Vietnamese. To make matters even worse, Watergate soured the public's trust of government in general. Our president then became a man that wasn't even elected. The president after him was a former peanut farmer that had the audacity to sound negative. Then again, how could he be positive with double digit inflation and another energy crisis? In 1979, ahhhhh yes, 1979, not only is it a great Smashing Pumpkin's song, but there was an Iranian hostage crisis. Instead of fucking up the Iranians, Carter looked like an idiot after a failed rescue attempt and could do nothing significant for 444 days.

The day after, Reagan was sworn into office. Perfect timing eh? I'm not really Canadian, I swear. Reagan was a decent president but America loved him. Why? Well, the 80s were a hell of a lot better than the 70s. It was morning in America. The Soviet Union collapsed due to the fact that communism is the most economically disastrous ideology ever thought of. Most Americans don't ideologically agree with Reagan but they loved him because he was charismatic and a hell of a lot better than Carter. He was the right president at the right time. Fast-forward to today and now we look at what Obama could inherit.

Instead of Vietnam, we have Iraq. We found out the Gulf Tokin was bullshit just as we found out WMDs were bullshit. Instead of OPEC forming, we just have record high gas prices. Instead of the Soviet Union as the bogeyman, we now have the semi-communist China. Instead of Carter, we have someone even worse in Bush. At least Carter was honest. We have record high deficits where the deficit is more than four percent over GDP! Thus, we are now beholden to our ideological enemy in China that keeps us afloat by purchasing US bonds. Instead of a possible nuclear holocaust, we have to worry about global warming. Instead of an idiot handling a hostage crisis, we have a moron who spent four days of his vacation during Hurricane Katrina. Hell, Bush gave us a stimulus check and his approval rating still sucks. Real income is down, foreclosures are up. Consumer confidence is down and the price of food is up.

Enter Obama. He is promising to change this.

And that my friends is why Obama is likely going to be the next president despite not having much experience/record or amazing ideas. He branded the word "change" and I think McCain is going to find out like Hillary did that you can't compete with change when the status quo sucks.