What's Newt? And who?

IS NEWT GINGRICH the wave of the future or just the flavor of the month?

I'm not quite sure.

But I do know this: Sometimes when I listen to Gingrich I have to scratch my head and wonder: "What the heck is he thinking? Does this guy's ego know no bounds whatsoever?"

This man has compared himself to Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Henry Clay, Charles De Gaulle, William Wallace, Pericles, the Duke of Wellington, the Vikings, Thomas Edison, Vince Lombardi, the Wright brothers and Moses.

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?

Indeed, people who have watched Gingrich up close report that he routinely "talks about four or five great people in history, including Pericles and himself."

Like Gingrich, Pericles was a prolific writer and orator. And, like Gingrich, Pericles was viewed by some as a populist. But, unlike Gingrich, Pericles served in the military; was highly disciplined' exhibited an admirable sense of calmness and self-control; surrounded himself with artists, philosophers, writers and patrons of the arts; and was descended from a wealthy, influential family.

So, how is it that Gingrich identifies with Pericles? Well, Pericles did dump his first wife (with whom he had two children) and actually offered her to another husband. Then, Pericles and his mistress began living together openly and appearing in public together, against the wishes of his own children.

But we don't really want to go into all that messy stuff, do we?