I keep being told that, but all his solutions head down the Govt' route every time. I read Contract with the Earth. This "Politik Wilsonian" is all about Govt' working efficiently instead of eliminating it. You don't tell people that FDR is the greatest President in the 20th century if you are not into this Progressive ideal.
Roosevelt, according to Reagan, was a strong leader, one to emulate in certain respects. He had taken over the presidency during a time of unprecedented crisis and implemented a plan of action to bring the nation out of its doldrums. Reagan fondly recalled FDRs Fireside Chats, which were designed to give hope to the people. His strong, gentle, confident voice resonated across the nation with an eloquence that brought comfort and resilience to a nation caught up in a storm and reassured us that we could lick any problem. I will never forget him for that.
As governor of California later, Reagan had to deal with a Democratic legislature. It occurred to me that I had an opportunity to go over their heads. How? He used radio and television to communicate directly with the people of California, a tactic he traced back to FDRs Fireside Chats, which, he commented, made an indelible mark on me during the Depression.
As president, Reagan often mentioned his admiration for FDRs spirit of leadership. On a trip back to his alma mater, Eureka College, in 1984, he reminded his listeners what it was like to experience the Great Depression, and how the Fireside Chats had been so reassuring. All of us who lived through those years, he instructed them, remember the drabness the depression brought. But we remember, too, how people pulled together, that sense of community and shared values, that belief in American enterprise and democracy that saw us through.
It was that engrained American optimism, that sense of hope Franklin Roosevelt so brilliantly summoned and mobilized. In his view, FDR was instrumental in reviving an inherent American optimism that was endangered by the economic crisis.
http://www.firstprinciplesjournal.com/articles.aspx?article=1082&loc=r