Better Than Reagan
In reading tristero's post about his complex feelings about the Obama Presidency, I tried to think of a way to capture the inability of some to rationally consider Obama. Tristero writes:
My friends think Obama is doing a good to excellent job. Sure they don't like this decision, or that cave-in, but on the whole, they think highly of him. [. . . T]he conversation takes its usual course, with my friends excusing Obama and leaping to his defense, and me piling up the things he has done inexcusably wrong [. . .] Which made it all the more startling to me when I found myself on the opposite side the other day. A smart, highly knowledgeable, highly accomplished friend lit into Obama and pulled no punches. [. . .] I couldn't help but disagree but I don't understand exactly why. [. . .] I felt that the very real, very obvious distinctions between Obama and Bush were being minimized.
(Emphasis supplied.) In light of the "better than Bush" argument tristero highlights, I want to try it this way. Consider Bill Clinton. To a progressive, Bill Clinton should not have been a satisfying President. And yet, he was much better than Reagan. But I would not spend a minute defending Clinton by arguing that he was much better than Reagan. More . .
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