PrintMarch 31, 2010
Obama and Wilson
Barack Obama has been compared to Lincoln, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, and JFK, among others. But few have noted his interesting parallels with Woodrow Wilson. Historical comparisons have their limits. But Wilson-Obama similarities abound, starting with both men's use of the label "progressive."Wilson was no "community organizer," but like Obama, he was an academic -- among the most prominent political scientists of his day. No other two presidents hang their pre-White House careers so much on academic curriculum vitae. Both then augmented their nascent careers by authorship: Wilson by a treatise on congressional government, and Obama -- an individual perhaps even more self-absorbed than the imperious Wilson -- with a bestselling memoir. Here the comparisons diverge: Wilson spends key years as president of Princeton, while Obama sojourns in the Illinois State Senate, voting present. But both then achieve statewide office in states in which they not raised: Virginia-born...(Read Full Article)
