Is Obama The Next Adlai Stevenson?

Chicago Magazine:

He was a Democratic presidential candidate from Illinois, a celebrated orator and an intellectual running against a military hero at the time of an unpopular war. His political resumé was relatively short, and his appeal formed in part around his call for a change in the practice of politics in this country. Critics claimed he was an elitist, and Republicans accused him of being weak and naïve about America's enemies. He got crushed in the general election.

A glimpse into the future? No, a snapshot of the past--the 1952 presidential election. Adlai E. Stevenson of Libertyville, the popular governor of Illinois, ran on the Democratic ticket against Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former army general who had been a major architect of the Allied victory in World War II.

So, is the presumptive Democratic candidate, Illinois senator Barack Obama, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson?

Read the whole story: Chicago Magazine

Comments

[Soothsayer08]

02:39 PM on 08/22/2008

No he isn't .Why cant he be another JFK? Why does Obama have to be put into a category or be equated with someone else? Can't he be just an unique individual­?

[RationalDem]

03:03 PM on 08/22/2008

Exactly! I hate these titles and premises that say What If Obama is "xyz." Who cares?

[rwe]

05:50 PM on 08/24/2008

because he has nothing of substance to to make him anything but a community organiser.­..

[mergina]

01:19 PM on 08/22/2008

NOPE.....H­E IS OBAMA. HE IS HOWEVER GOING TO BE A LOSER TOO.

[joebaggadonuts]

01:17 PM on 08/22/2008

This article is about as convincing as any attempt to equate Elanor Roosevelt with Brittiney Spears would be.

[Charmed]

10:14 AM on 08/22/2008

OMG, it's 2008......­.the world has changed, maybe the media needs to understand that first before doing these stupid articles. Obama is who "He" is.....sto­p trying to define him as someone else.

[ConnieB]

09:04 AM on 08/22/2008

McCain is certainly no Eisenhower­.

[rwe]

08:59 AM on 08/22/2008

and Barack is certainly not as qualified as Stevenson.­..... Yes the word elitist is apropo in describing both Obama and Stevenson here... Barack is an extreme liberal .... do not confuse progressiv­es and liberals with progress

[arvay]

08:27 AM on 08/22/2008

I'm actually old enough to remember Stevenson.

Stevenson was incurable, one of those types who for whatever psychologi­cal reasons could never bring himself to make oversimpli­fied political statements­. He was a great UN representa­tive for the US, but was too finicky to succeed with with the firmly un-intelle­ctual Americans.

I don't see Obama as a similar figure. He's brilliant but doesn't seem to need to remind everyone of that all the time, and seems quite capable of boiling positions down and forming them into verbal weapons.

The current attack on McCain and his house amnesia is an example. Obama has the grit to campaign according to the opening lines of Patton, "grab 'em by the nose, kick 'em in the a** "

The stronger his attacks, the more like a leader he will appear, and every time McCain whines, he appears weak and privileged­. Americans like strong leaders. Whether or not we like that, it's a fact and Obama needs to make sure the people see him that way.

Let's remember, Jack Kennedy turned the tables on Nixon by riding on a bogus "missile gap" issue. We need to learn from that. When Jack was president, he saved the world from WW III -- so his political street fight tactics were justified.

[VOTER]

08:10 AM on 08/22/2008

The author must be truly regretting using the word "elitist" with Senator Obama's
name even though he did put the word into quotes.

John and Cindy McCain is were the word can be successful­ly used and quotation
marks are not necessary.

The answer to his question is "NO!"

Sir, meet your future President, President Barack Obama.

[AnnieinOR]

12:26 AM on 08/22/2008

John McCain is NO Dwight "IKE" Eisenhower - please don't insult Ike...Eise­nhower was a great general.

[jethrock]

11:37 PM on 08/21/2008

For one thing, Barack is Barack.

Second, Eisenhower was part of a successful war of necessity.

McCain was just a cheerleade­r for a preemptive war that that is well regarded as the biggest US foreign policy disaster ever.

Finally this is 2008 not 1952 and McCain doesn't grasp the challenges we face.

[Smirk]

05:48 AM on 08/22/2008

"McCain doesn't grasp the challenges we face." And neither, it seems, do many voters. Heaven help us if the next POTUS is McCain.

[esgabel]

10:22 PM on 08/21/2008

It hurts my heart...I loved Adlai but comparing John McCain to Dwight Eisenhower is thin--reme­mber Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex that John McCain is in bed with...

[videlicet]

10:12 PM on 08/21/2008

I like Ike. He was a pretty smart guy, and not only "knew" how to win a war, but did so.

[JNail]

09:30 PM on 08/21/2008

Was there a reason you wasted the ink on this inane comparison­? Other than the Ill. comparison­?

Please post useful ideas not completely unrelated nonsense.

[Quaoar]

09:21 PM on 08/21/2008

Is McCain the next Herbert Hoover?

[barackobama4prez]

09:55 AM on 08/22/2008

JMAC is the next Richard Nixon.

[DieHardObamaSupporter]

09:05 PM on 08/21/2008

This is 2008, not 1952. I would hope america is alot more progressiv­e in their thinking than the 5os.

[ESerafina42]

12:23 AM on 08/22/2008

You can certainly hope (as do I), but hoping doesn't make it so, unfortunat­ely.

I agree, thought, that McCain is no Eisenhower­. Eisenhower made general, for one thing.