In the wake of the Democrats bruising de feat in Massachusetts last week, many pundits have encouraged President Obama to take a lesson from Bill Clinton‘s mid-term election meltdown in 1994.

It’s a good comparison, to be sure, but 44 only has to look back to 43 for some stunning parallels on what not to do in the White House — that’s because subconsciously President Obama is starting to remind more and more Americans of President George W. Bush. Let me count the ways:

* While policy differences abound, in terms of style, President Obama has lately been channeling his inner Bush. Whether on health care or bank reform, the President has become increasingly black-and-white, his pronouncements doctrinaire and lacking in specifics.

On Thursday, when the White House announced sweeping restrictions on the nation’s biggest banks, the president warned in an ominous tone: “Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail.” Minutes later, he added, “If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have.” As Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg noted, “Eight years ago that would have been George Bush talking about terrorists.”

Yes, President Obama’s rhetoric toward Wall Street bankers increasingly has a “Wanted: Dead or Alive” tone to it. Such tough talk didn’t help President Bush capture Osama bin Laden — and it won’t help President Obama rescue the US economy either.

* President Obama has taken up President Bush’s costly habit of making pronouncements about the economy while the US stock market is open, and with equally disastrous results. Obama’s latest attack on the banks sent the Dow lower by more than 200 points, its worst showing since June.

* Then there is attention to detail, or rather the lack thereof. Implicit in the public’s disapproval of Obama’s health care plan are concerns about what’s really in the bill and how little the president has told the American people about how it will work. The rush to pass “reform” by an artificial deadline imposed by the White House is eerily reminiscent of the run-up to the war in Iraq. No wonder millions of voters are anxious about whether reconstruction of our health care system will work any better than the reconstruction of Iraq.

As much as it may rankle the Bush-haters out there, other similarities abound. Both 44 and 43 are devoted family men who relish the time with their beautiful daughters, both are known to be good listeners, and each is viewed as highly disciplined, with a weakness for surrounding himself with cronies from home.

No wonder even President Obama’s staunchest supporters are turning on him. “I have to say, I’m pretty close to giving up on Mr. Obama,” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote in an astonishing confession last week. Could it be that the ultra liberals, such as Krugman, are starting to see the very traits they so loathed in Bush coming to life in the Obama White House? If so, it must be like waking up to your second wife and realizing she is a lot like your first.

terrykeenan@email.com