There are Four Kinds of Politicians

Ross Douthat has a chart.

• Jackson - Realist tending toward isolationism
  
• Jefferson - Idealist isolationist
  
• Wilson - Idealist tending toward interventionism
  
• Hamilton - Realist interventionist

I think President Bush came to office as a Jackson/Jeffersonian mix, but after 9/11 became solidly Wilsonian.

Barack Obama is all things to all people, and sold himself early as a Jeffersonian. But I think he's going to be whatever gets him the most votes.

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