The idea that the fix was in started to take shape when I started seeing “Obama as Reagan”

While Reagan’s name was mostly uttered on the republican side – their first debate was at his Library, it was more significantly used in the Democratic election.

I believe it was part of the original deal made with the media.

It was initiated by Obama and carried on enthusiastically by the teflon makers

To my surprise, I just discovered the process started way before the primaries, when Obama was a virtual unknown.

Politico wasn’t too subtle when trumpeting the campaign talking points back in July 2007

Obama models campaign on Reagan revolt

complete with photo

here’s what the campaign wanted them to write:

“Now, it is blasphemy for Democrats,” Obama pollster Cornell Belcher said of Reagan, “but that hope and optimism that was Ronald Reagan” allowed him to “transcend” ideological divisions within his own party and the general electorate.

Primaries ongoing, in February E J Dionne was writing

Barack Obama‘s critics bear a remarkable resemblance to the liberals who labored mightily to dismiss Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Like Reagan’s enemies, Obama’s opponents concede that he gives a great speech. Indeed, both Obama and Reagan came to wide attention because of a single oration that offered hope in the midst of a losing campaign — Obama’s 2004 keynote to the Democratic National Convention and Reagan’s 1964 “A Time for Choosing” address delivered on behalf of Barry Goldwater. But surely speeches aren’t enough, are they?

And it goes on lovingly about both.

Once the campaign started, Obama made headlines expressing his admiration for Reagan, dissing Clinton in the process. Those of us actually watching, went the other way. For me this was where the  much vaunted similarities between the two ended: one was a Clinton, the other a Reagan wanna-be

Of course, we still were blissfully ignorant that this was a process on its way probably since before we knew he was a candidate.

But I did figure at the time that this was a win-win for the media – erase Clinton from history, establish Reagan some more

Thanks Paul Krugman for keeping the sanity then:

Now progressives have been granted a second chance to argue that Reaganism is fundamentally wrong: once again, the vast majority of Americans think that the country is on the wrong track. But they won’t be able to make that argument if their political leaders, whatever they meant to convey, seem to be saying that Reagan had it right.

And as I decided to write about this based on past readings, but it’s obviously ongoing as here’s today’s catch:

Is Obama the New Reagan?

Obama may already have the political insulation that gave Reagan the moniker of the Teflon president. He has survived questions about his relationship with a fiery minister and his own controversial comments about small-town American life. In overcoming these landmines, Obama may have demonstrated that he is more like Reagan than many would like to admit.

And that’s where the comparison betrays the fix. Some of us know that teflon is not a naturally occurring miracle, but a man made coating. In presidents – it’s media made.

The media tried its best to teflonize W as well (I remember that Reagan’s Son piece in the New York Times), but it wore off before W’s terms were over. So now, they want to make another.

It was the pollsters who advanced this since the General election began, lately Zogby

Zogby said the race mirrors the 1980 election, when voters didn’t embrace Ronald Reagan over then-President Jimmy Carter until just days before the election.

“The Sunday before the election the dam burst,” Zogby said of the 1980 tilt. “That’s when voters determined they were comfortable with Reagan.”

Seems someone is building a narrative – and I wonder who made the voters so comfortable?

They want, as Zogby recommended – to convince the voters the new guy is acceptable (just like they did with Reagan). They want to teflonize the media installed Obama throughout, offering him the “political insulation” (from accountability) they gave Reagan.

I am not sure if voters have any word in this.

What I do know, it was Reagan who started the deregulation that led to today’s economy (and Obama did express admiration for this idea).

What I know is that at times like these, we need an FDR, not a Reagan.

But the media made sure she was out.