Washington, D.C. (Map, News) - Barack Obama elicits laughs from audiences at his political rallies by telling them about Republicans who approach him and whisper their support.

But for the GOP, it’s no joke. Disillusioned with President Bush and unimpressed with presumptive nominee John McCain, many young Republicans and former Reaganites alike have gravitated toward the charismatic Obama, despite his liberal voting record. They are attracted by his promise to change the way government works and to end years of political divisiveness.

“I think everybody has different reasons but I think he’s seen as a fresh start for this county, and people like what they see,” said Susan Eisenhower, who endorsed Obama in February despite being a lifelong Republican and the granddaughter of GOP President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

“There are many other Republicans [who support Obama],” Eisenhower said. “I’ve just heard from a ton of them.”

One of President Reagan’s former aides, who did not want his name used, said he is supporting Obama because Bush “destroyed the Republican party” by pushing ultra-conservative wedge issues. The former aide said Obama, not McCain, has shown the kind of character needed to bring the country back together and restore greatness to the presidency.

“For those of us who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s,” the aide said, Obama’s inclusive approach “is very appealing.”

Obama said in January that Reagan had “changed the trajectory of America,” and “tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing.”

Former Bush speechwriter Peter Wehner, who also worked for Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, acknowledged, “There is a kind of Bobby Kennedy phenomenon around Obama, and he generates that kind of passion and support,” in part because he rejected a campaign based on race.

But Wehner, who does not back Obama, said Republican support has likely waned since the public tuned in to the racially charged statements made by Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former pastor.

“The trouble with Obama is he is like a sleek car,” Wehner said. “He looks very good on the outside but then you lift up the hood and you find problems. The problems in this instance have to do with his ideology. He’s a hard-core liberal in his bones.”

John Martin, a lifelong Republican who founded the Web site Republicans for Obama, said his track record is too short to be defined as a liberal.

“If the solutions Obama proposes are a little more to the left than I would prefer, then that is fine,” Martin said. “We need some kind of solution for our problems and we are not getting them.”

sferrechio@dcexaminer.com