Obama Still Aims to Emulate Him

As the '08 election rolls on, evidence is mounting that Barack Obama seeks to evoke the Great Communicator, Politico reports. This week Obama spoke at a building named after Ronald Reagan, and tried to set up a speech at Germany's Brandenburg Gate, the site of Reagan's famous "tear down this wall" address. Obama is trying to "look big, look important, the way Reagan looked big," Mario Cuomo said.

Obama praised Reagan twice during the primaries, once for speaking with the Soviet Union, another time for “changing the trajectory of America.” Obama may have picked up the strategy from Reagan himself, who was fond of quoting JFK and FDR. “Show me a quotable recent Republican President,” Reagan once said. “JFK’s a hero." (More Obama 2008 stories.)