Forget Clinton, Obama's the Real Comeback Kid

Charles Krauthammer: His tax deal makes it likely he'll be re-elected
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 17, 2010 9:08 AM CST
Forget Clinton, Obama's the Real Comeback Kid
President Obama makes a statement to reporters in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010.   (AP Photo)

You think Bill Clinton is the master of political comebacks? It took President Obama all of five weeks to go from political corpse to likely two-term president, writes Charles Krauthammer. It's all thanks to his "stunning" tax deal (Krauthammer marveled at it last week, too) and his return to the political center. The Senate's 81-19 vote "will go a long way toward erasing the partisan stigma of Obama's first two years," when his stimulus (the first one) and health care measures got zero GOP support.

Obama, of course, somehow pulled off his second, stealth stimulus with Republicans holding all the trump cards. "The greatest mistake Ronald Reagan's opponents ever made—and they made it over and over again—was to underestimate him," writes Krauthammer at the Washington Post. "Same with Obama." He may be vain, "but don't be fooled by defensive style or thin-skinned temperament. The president is a very smart man. How smart? His comeback is already a year ahead of Clinton's." (More President Obama stories.)

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