Goldwater was to Reagan as McGovern is to Obama. From the ruins of Goldwater's landslide defeat in 1964, conservatives began the march that brought them fully to power sixteen years later. If Obama wins in November, it will have taken liberals thirty-six years. —attributed to Times Book Review editor Sam Tanenhaus by George Packer in "The Fall of Conservatism"

Packer goes on to write—

Tanenhaus pointed out how much of Obama's rhetoric about a "new politics" is reminiscent of McGovern's campaign, which was also directed against a bloated, corrupt establishment. In "The Making of the President 1972," Theodore White quotes McGovern saying, "I can present liberal values in a conservative, restrained way... . I see myself as a politician of reconciliation."

And George W. presented himself as "a uniter, not a divider." Oddly enough, that has turned out to be true. No one has united the Democratic Party quite like George Bush, and I doubt that anyone else could have. May his memory linger on.

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