Now, I know that Gingrich is a historian (he'll be the first to remind you that he has a Ph.D. in history), but give me a break. In placing himself in the company of these visionaries, innovators and other heroic figures, Gingrich has called himself "a transformational figure, a revolutionary," someone who aims at "saving civilization," a man with "enormous personal ambition" who wants to "shift the entire planet," a teacher of "the art of war" and a person of "big ideas."
This makes President Obama talking about slowing "the rise of the ocean" and making the planet begin to heal seem like a mere audition. Big ideas? Well, yes. Like Obama, when it comes to himself, Gingrich does indeed have Very Big Ideas - some of which seem to be in the realm of fantasy.
And like Obama, Gingrich has placed himself in the company of Lincoln.
Gingrich says his campaign is patterned after that of Lincoln because, like Lincoln, all his "ideas come out of the Declaration of Independence."
All of them? Really? Even the part about turning inner-city school students into janitors? I have to wonder about that.
Gingrich once told his Republican congressional colleagues that, like Moses, he would help them cross the Red Sea "once again," but added that he would do that only if this time they would promise to stay on the other side. No wonder they eventually abandoned him. One could even conjecture about what took them so long.
Just last year, Gingrich explained his "to-hell-with-everybody" (including his aides) campaign template by saying: "Much like Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, I'm such an unconventional political figure that you really need to design a unique campaign that fits the way I operate and what I'm trying to do." But Reagan never liked to fire anybody, and Thatcher willingly took the advice of trusted campaign aides as she rose to power in Britain. And if Gingrich is unique, how come he sees himself as similar to so many others?
