Obama? C'est mon copain!

Someone gets it right on the Eurobamaphiles:

To them Obama is more than a politician. He is a cultural figure, who has landed here with the impact Charles Lindbergh made when he flew the Atlantic alone more than 80 years ago.... What was similar about Obama and Lindbergh -- forgetting the flyer's later politics -- was that they physically embodied the future. The first solo flight across the Atlantic not only made the "Lone Eagle" the most famous man in the world, it was a symbol of new technology and eventually a smaller world, where diverse peoples would have to get to know each other. Barack Obama, in the eyes of Europeans, particularly younger Europeans grappling with diversity, represents the future. He represents a smaller world where more people look like him than look like Kennedy or Ronald Reagan. That is what makes him different, and that is why so many people who may not understand the language he speaks still cheer his words. They are actually, as Monsieur Kismoune said, cheering the man. And cheering the country that made a Barack Obama.

... particularly that last part. Most Europeans would be absolutely mystified by the debates here over Obama's perceived "foreignness", his lack of "Americanness" and so on. His foreignness stops the second you step off this continent. To outside eyes he could have originated from only one country on earth. The Lindburgh comparison is slightly more original anyway than the others this season,to Reagan, McGovern, Carter, Trudeau, Stevenson, Clinton, Bush jr, Bush sr, Nixon, Kerry, Gore, Kennedy...... The real question being what former president Obama hasn't been compared to. The answer being "anyone before 1963" which is where everyone's memories seem to stop.

Obama is the New...

Bush (43):
Wall Street Journal editorial board, 7/2/08.
L. Whitey Johnson, 7/10/08.

Kerry:
Steve Schmidt, 6/20/08.
Grover Norquist, 6/26/08.
Frank Newport, 5/7/08.
Hillary Clinton, 4/14/08.

Gore:
Hillary Clinton, 4/14/08.
Hugh Hewitt, 3/30/08.

(Bill) Clinton:
Paul Krugman, 6/30/08.
Abe Greenwald, 1/15/08.
Ron Fournier, 12/18/07.

Dole:
Mark Halperin, 2/28/08.

George H. W. Bush:
David Brooks, 5/19/08.
New York Sun editorial board, 4/18/08
YouTube, 4/6/08: