Posted on 02/25/2009 11:29:56 AM PST by tentmaker
I have been wondering whether Barack Obama will turn out to be another Jimmy Carter or another Franklin Roosevelt. The least bad option is Carter: a leader whose policies are disastrous for the economy and for US foreign policy, but who ends up being rejected by the American people and voted out of office after only one term--as opposed to a leader like FDR, whose policies are also disastrous, but who ends up being loved by the American people nonetheless and voted back into office.
After viewing Obama's speech last night, I am forced to conclude that he has the makings of another FDR.
There aren't many people alive today, of course, who can remember what FDR was like while he was in office. So it is difficult for us to project how an American leader could be permitted to preside over double digit unemployment and complete economic stagnation for more than one term, much less for an entire decade. But I've seen enough of the old news reels of Roosevelt to have a sense for how he did it. He always projected a buoyant confidence and a vigorous optimism that was just convincing enough to connect to the American sense of life--which he could then use as cover for policies that systematically destroyed wealth and prevented the economy from recovering.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
I fear this writer is correct. Heaven help us!
The writer left out one comparison.
Yes, 0bama will expand the government more than FDR.
The economy will be worse than Carter’s.
And he will be responsible for a civil war like Lincoln.
It all depends on the timing of a recovery. If things keep getting worse, the people won’t put up with it for long and want to make another change. Attention spans are short now, and people are restless. If things turn around and he gets reelected, we have the chance of eight damaging years.
Of course, it also depends on a decent candidate with a free market message, and that is a question mark at this stage.
“We’re going to tax, tax, tax and spend, spend, spend.” - Harry Hopkins, architect of the New Deal and soviet agent “19”.
• Taxes and regulations will increase.
• The government will take over lending directly.
• The government will take over lending indirectly.
• The government will vilify and punish bankers.
• No one can know when all of this intervention is going to end or how much bigger it’s going to get.
• Obama will subsidize inefficient and unprofitable “renewable energy” projects.
• Obama will artificially increase the costs of all other forms of energy.
• He will seek socialized medicine.
• He’ll soak the rich.
Got my change... from employed to unemployed.
No matter how bad things get, Obama will use the same mantra,
“Do we want to return to the failed policies of George Bush, tax breaks for the rich, yadda yadda?”
to win the 2012 election.
Also people admired Roosevelt for recovering from Polio and leading the country, despite being in a wheel-chair.
Even if he is an FDR the question still remains, would the America of TODAY re-elect FDR if the economy had not recovered and had, in fact, gotten worse in four years? I think not. The America of today has little patience or memory and cares about the here and now. In other words, what have you done for me lately? Think about it, what if 9/11=Pearl Harbor. Could you hear it? Four years from Pearl the America of TODAY would be asking, what the hell are we doing sending our boys to Europe and The Pacific? Is it really worth that money?
I think it is easy to see Obama as invincible, as well, the Messiah. But I seem to recall that real Messiah had to suffer, die and be buried before he was ressurected. So far, Obama has not even stubbed a toe. Anyone really think that will last?
there is a big difference. We were still on the gold standard under FDR so we didn’t have inflation. Obama, like Carter, will be completely unrestrained and that will affect everyone in a clear way.
after a DOW 6000 and 11% unemployment...YES!!!
Jimmah Cahtah. People are beginning to wake up . . . working people . . . entitlement people are still waiting for that mortgage and car to be paid for by the GuvMint.
We should give Roosevelt his due. He stood foursquare with Churchill for the West and against fascism even though it was politically unpopular before Pearl Harbor.
Good point!
Although I’m optimistic on a personal level (my nature), I have given up on being optimistic on the future of the country. There won’t be enough left in 4 years to build a recovery on....
hh
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