Yves Smith, far from a Republican shill or ideological conservative, critiques President Obama’s invocation of Theodore Roosevelt:
Wow, I have to hand it to Obama’s spinmeisters. They’ve managed to find a way to resurrect his old hopium branding by calling it something completely different that still has many of the old associations.
And we have a twofer in Obama’s launch of his new branding as True Son of Teddy Roosevelt. Never mind that Teddy, unlike Obama, was accomplished in many walks of life and had meaningful political accomplishments (such as reforming the corrupt New York City police department) before becoming President at the tender age of 42. The second element of this finesse is that Obama is using the Rooseveltian imagery to claim he will pass legislation to get tough on Big Finance miscreants. That posture, is of course meant to underscore the idea that you just can’t get the perps with the present, weak set of laws.
If that’s the strategy, the president had best hope that nobody examines TR’s life, beliefs, and political history too closely. Or Obama’s record, for that matter.
Luckily we have Doris Kearns Goodwin, a longtime respected historian on the Presidency of
JohnsonKennedyLincolnFDRTeddy to tell us how it all makes sense.If that’s the strategy, the president had best hope that nobody examines TR’s life, beliefs, and political history too closely. Or Obama’s record, for that matter.
No one in a meaningful position to do so will examine any of the topics you mention. If they had examined Obama to begin with he would have never gotten past Hillary. And who will actually look at TR’s record?
Somehow TR’s long-since been absolved of white supremacism, cheerleading for US imperialism and offering moral support to Japanese imperialism in Korea. Now he’s Robin Williams in the Night At The Museum movies.
And, as PD Shaw mentioned in the OTB post on this same subject, if voters had wanted TR for president they would have voted for McCain.
Or Robin Williams.