History and 5 Presidents

Barack Obama will inevitably be compared with Presidents before him.  He will always be a historic president for the reason that "skin color" did not keep him out of office, and why should it in this day and age?  Logically speaking, there's no reason skin color or gender should keep any person out of office.  However, that "skin color" issue is considered a "hump" that Obama overcame.  That way was paved by many great people before him who made it possible, and the public, who no longer saw it as an issue. In all honesty, it was not he who overcame it, but the reality is that a great majority of the public no longer considers skin color an issue. 

As a result of this being a "transformational" presidency based on the grand flourishes of "hope" and "change" we've seen Obama, a DEMOCRAT, compared to two very important REPUBLICAN Presidents, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.  I suspect that this was mostly to sell him to the moderates and potentially to squishy Republicans by a media who wanted him to be seen by the public as being like those two very great presidents.

Taking the actual presidency on its face, however, we've already seen him squander the goodwill of the nation.  This is because he personally approved the enormous government spending sprees in misplaced stimulus and unwanted government socialized health-care, and the over-regulation that has turned a bad economy into a worse one.  Is it depression yet?  Whatever you call it, I think it's safe to say that Obama owns it.

So, when history writes of Obama, he will not join the likes of Lincoln and Reagan, but in the end will be compared with one Republican and one Democrat, Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter.

For more on the economics, see this article: 

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/276202/reagan-moment-larry-kudlow