Yeah, that's Obama on the right. I said it.
So far, the similarities are mostly superficial. The main difference I've seen, is that while both men are both pragmatists and a type of opportunist, Wilson had difficulty accepting loss and rejection. Obama seems fine with not only half a loaf, but the end pieces.
Wilson simply didn't believe in compromise when he was invested in a fight. As president of Princeton, he sank his administration over fights about the placement of the graduate college and his "Quad Plan" to get rid of Princeton's eating clubs.
Another difference is that Wilson as governor enjoyed a magnificent first year in office. After that, he was stalemated by Republicans who wanted to undermine his presidential ambitions and conservative, machine Democrats who wanted to undermine his presidential ambitions.
Obama had a remarkable first two years in office legislatively (as Wilson did in the White House, but I haven't gotten that far) and then has been stymied by those whose main priority is "insuring that Obama is a one term president." Wilson's second term was dominated by the second most catastrophic war in history. Let's hope any similarities end there.
If there is one thing that Obama could learn from Wilson is that Wilson understood the power of educating the electorate. Unlike any president before him - even Teddy Roosevelt - Wilson believed in appealing to the sovereign people. He saw the President as prime minister more than chief magistrate, which was the way every president since Washington had seen the job.
Obama is a thoughtful, eloquent speaker who can take complex ideas and make them understandable. But he needs to cut through the clutter of Casey Anthony and Shark Week and all the other distractions of our media saturated world and explain why, for instance, he keeps agreeing to legislation that he doesn't agree with.
John Cole says that unless the GOP nominates Bachmann or Perry or any wingnut, Obama will lose. I'm not sure. My own theory is that unpopular Republican governors in Ohio, Michigan and Florida will have a huge impact on this election.
But Romney came out against the debt deal. In the past, the debt deal was an opportunity for grandstanding. Obama certainly did that in his own past. But this time was different. This was the first time that we've really been up against default by design rather than accident.
To me, failure to accept a deal that staved off economic catastrophe shows a fundamental inability to accept the shit sandwich aspect of governing.
But unless Obama makes that case, he will be in trouble.
He needs to look, not to Wilson, but to Harry Truman as his model for 2012.
He needs to give'em hell.
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