"It's true that Rodney Butler, the new chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council, bears an almost uncanny resemblance to Barack Obama.

There is the affable and engaging smile, the lanky frame and, yes, the prominent ears.

Some people complained about recent news stories comparing the new Pequot chairman to the new president, saying the tribal leader should hardly be likened to the much accomplished Barack Obama, who, after all, was elected by a far more impressive mandate than the 450 or so eligible adult Pequot voters.

I disagree. I think there are remarkable similarities.

Butler not only physically resembles the new president, he seems to be the Pequots' own Obama-like agent of change, the candidate able to successfully suggest to tribal members, in the midst of a wrenching financial crisis, that, yes, they can still make it work.

Butler, in his first forays last week into the public limelight of southeastern Connecticut, by way of some press interviews, appeared poised and confident and said all the right things."

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David Collins: A Pequot chairman for the times (The New London Day 1/13)