Obama as Truman

Michael Barone has an article that posits that maybe the right comparison to Barack Obama isn't Jimmy Carter but Harry Truman instead.

The article misses an important angle though. I was reminded how Jimmy the Greek bet $10,000 on the 1948 election between Thomas Dewey and Harry Truman - picking Truman to win because Thomas Dewey had a mustache and the Greek's informal polling showed that American women didn't trust men with a mustache. I don't recall what odds the Greek got but the bet paid off handsomely.

I am assuming that the Republicans won't run a candidate in 2012 who has a mustache so Obama won't have the some dynamics working for him.