Obama cited Reagan on in a speech on Tuesday at Florida Atlantic University, in (apparent) support of his Buffet Rule. Glenn Kessler has something to say about that at the Fact Checker (long story short: two Pinnochios).
But the actual substance of Obama's comparison doesn't matter, because Reagan's imprimatur is trotted out so often, in support of so many diverse and fuzzy and anachronistic arguments, that the substance of any reference doesn't matter anymore. Reagan is attached to a policy or a position the way a sale tag is slapped onto a product at a department store.
Obama's citation of the affable doofus came just twenty minutes after Rick Santorum alluded the man in his speech that he was ending his campaign in such a way that he could continue to raise money from suckers suspending his campaign. Reagan has become something of a referential crutch for longshot candidates like Santorum and Newt Gingrich, as he was an upstart challenger to Gerald Ford in 1976 and a come-from-behind candidate in 1980. So if you're in the mood for an analogous anecdote about a once-longshot candidate coming out of nowhere to eke out a win, Reagan's your guy. (On January 24, Nate Silver had the total number of Reagan references by GOP primary candidates at 106; lord only knows what it is now.)
But Gingrich and Santorum have pulled this gag so many times that it's far crossed into the realm of analogical fallacy. That Reagan was once "a candidate who was losing" is a vague quality to have in common with the man; Thaddeus McCotter coud claim the same likeness. When an analogy becomes this loose, it implies a causal outcome in no way supported by reality.
Why does this matter? Because occasionally a Reagan reference is salient. Reagan would be a weepy Communist compared to today's Republicans, and Obama has made this point to show how far the GOP has leaned to the right, and how stringently they filter the positions of their candidates to align with this shift. This argument strikes me as an important foil to the party that claims to be Reagan's true heir, and I wish it got more play. But it's been lost in the din of Reagan references, for which Obama is now just as guilty as Republicans.
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment!