The parallels between him and Nixon are astounding!

Nixon had two daughters.  Obama has two daughters.

Nixon had a dog.  Obama has a dog.

Nixon was a President.  Obama is a President.

Nixon had an Enemies list filled with people he intended to use government agencies to spy on, harass, audit, investigate, intimidate, and generally bully and terrify.  Obama has…um…Obama has…

Well, he has something that makes him exactly like Nixon.  Or so say the likes of NPR’s Ken Rudin and the Washington Post’s Ruth Marcus.

Update: More from Larissa Alexandrovna.

Updated again 18 1/2 minutes later:  Ken Rudin has apologized for being a bonehead.  Unfortunately, he then goes on to be an even bigger bonehead.  Hat-tip Victoria.

We could update this post again, we could do that fairly easily, and we could get it in cash:  Eric Boehlert helps ABC’s Jake Tapper, and any other beltway insider who cares to pay attention to the facts, why one of these things is not like the other.

Dave Noon gives a quick lesson in what made Nixon Nixonesque.  Joe Conason expands in order to show that “Nixonian” more aptly describes Fox News itself.

Comments

[Erik Loomis]

My God! The parallels are amazing. Also, they are both men!!!! They are the same exact person! Nixon is reborn as a black liberal!

[Rana]

Would that he'd be willing to do as much for environmental issues as Nixon did. (That's the one part of the man's record that I genuinely admire.)

[JoshA]

Both continued long-running wars of questionable-at-best necessity that had been begun by previous administrations of the opposing party. Both came into office determined to open a dialogue with a foreign adversary with whom America presently did not have diplomatic relations. Both lost an election which wound up weirdly helping them become President. Both of them eventually married women who had been unreceptive to their initial romantic advances. Both improved America's standing in the world while infuriating opponents and inspiring protests at home. Both were accused of executive overreach. Both are carbon-based life forms. Ok, I guess I'm out of gas.

Nixonian! In all seriousness, I always thought Bush was Nixon minus the concern for the environment, concern for American workers (established OSHA), and foreign policy sense.

[Ben Alpers]

The names "Obama" and "Nixon" each have seven letters.

Both were elected in years ending in "8."

Nixon had a secretary named Obama. Obama had a secretary named Nixon.

Jack Anderson wrote about Nixon from a theater and then hid in a warehouse.

Glenn Beck broadcast about Obama from a warehouse and then hid in a theater.

Or something.

[Victoria]

Rudin has apologized on his NPR blog for making such a "bone-headed" comment.

[Erik Loomis]

Nixon's supposed doing things for the environment is highly overrated. A few years ago there was a very compelling article in the Journal of American History about this which argued that Nixon didn't care about the environment at all--but he knew it was a popular, bipartisan movement and didn't want to expend any political capital fighting it--he preferred to use that capital on Vietnam and attacking hippies. I think we often give presidents too much credit for policies enacted in their administrations. This is certainly one case I feel very strongly about.

[Rana]

Oh, I agree, Erik, that he didn't do it out of any particular personal interest in the environment. He still gets credit, though, for doing it at all, because a lot of what was enacted at that time continues to play a vital role in current environmental efforts.

(It's not unlike giving T. Roosevelt credit for creating the national park system... on lands from which American Indians were forcibly evicted.)

[Belvoir]

Wow, imagine a time when the environment was a popular, bi-partisan concern. (I think they called it "pollution" then). Seems like science fiction.

[Anne D.]

Lance,

Your parallels were very funny, I agree with you that Rudin went on and became a bigger bonehead. JoshA, that was funny, also.

I listen to NPR's program, Talk of the Nation. On Wednesdays, Rudin is on there as the political junkie. I have never been impressed with him especially with his very tepid approach to anything Fox/Teabaggers/Lumbaugh/Beck. He may apologize but it is only from the backlash NPR is receiving. This is their fundraising week and that is the only reason I believe there is an apology. He revealed his true colors, he would be at home with Fox. I like NPR but there are definate shades of bowing to Corporate/Republican Masters in their coverage of stories.

[Dutch]

Inductive Reasoning: Start with your belief structure and work backwards, embracing the facts that support your values and ignoring the facts that don't.

Occam's Razor: When there are multiple answers to the same dilemma, the simplest answer is usually the best answer. If you have to bend an answer and twist it to make it fit the dilemma, that usually means it's the wrong answer.

Nixon had an enemies list for the press. This is an oft mentioned reason liberals hate/hated Nixon.

Obama has an enemies list for the press. Liberals could care less.

Srsly. I know you were taught that YOUR hate and intolerance is justified hate and intolerance.

It's not.

I know you rationalize that serving the advancement of liberal values makes YOUR hypocrisies less egregious than conservative hypocrisies.

They're not.

If your "Liberal, right or wrong!" intellectual dishonesty isn't outraged by the war on Fox News, that last gasp of journalistic ethics within you should be whispering... "Pssst! Lance... This is bullshit, Lance."

The failing of liberals is not liberal ideology itself. It's their inability to think this thought:

"Yeah. That works in the short term. But then what?"

Socialism works. It works. It works for a while. Then it doesn't work anymore.

Everything that pisses you off about the way the Right is treating your guy... The Right learned from YOU.

And yet, you still can't think forward to where this press enemies list thing is going in three years, can you? You just don't have the cerebral friction to see this boomeranging back in your teeth the way Blogging and Opinion Journalism did.

Okaaaaaaaaaay. Even TPM is calling bullshit on this, but you're not. Okaaaaaay.

[Chris The Cop]

Nixon married a woman named Pat, Obama married a woman named Michelle; those are the names of my mother and favorite cousin, respectively. The parallels ARE eerie...

But for crissake Dutch, are you (or anyone else)really comparing Nixon to Obama here? Nixon would sic the FBI on his enemies, and have their phones tapped, and have the IRS check out their taxes, and break into their shrink's offices. Obama and his press secretary calling Fox News trash may not be a smart political move, but it's not Nixonian. (And keep in mind, I don't want any part of Obama's agenda. I seriously think he's well on his way to bankrupting the country)

That said, the only differnce between Fox and ABC, CBS,NBC CNN, NPR and the NY Times is that one is blinded Right and the others are blinded Left.