[The President] has prescribed is to borrow more money if he can and to go further into debt...

[Drunken Irishman]

"Now in the third year of his administration, we find more of our people unemployed than at any other time. We find our houses empty and our people hungry, many of them half-clothed and many of them not clothed at all."

"...We find not only the people going further into debt, but that the United States is going further into debt. The states are going further into debt, and the cities and towns are even going into bankruptcy. The condition has become deplorable. Instead of his promises, the only remedy that has prescribed is to borrow more money if he can and to go further into debt. The last move was to borrow $5 billion more on which we must pay interest for the balance of our lifetimes, and probably during the lifetime of our children. And with it all, there stalks a slimy specter of want, hunger, destitution, and pestilence, all because of the fact that in the land of too much and of too much to wear, our president has failed in his promise to have these necessities of life distributed into the hands of the people who have need of them." http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5109/">(1)

"Whenever this administration has gone to the left I have voted with it, and whenever it has gone to the right I have voted against it." http://www.balladofearlklong.com/huey2.html">(2)

"I raise my hand in reverence to the Supreme Court that saved this nation from fascism." http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Upheaval-1935-1936-Age-Roosevelt/dp/0618340874">(3)

"...progressives opposed the act as a sellout to big business..." http://books.google.com/books?id=JP-1JJsG7awC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=%22roosevelt%22+%22sellout+to+big+business%22&source=bl&ots=MCPZnVzy88&sig=BFajH67ZLWmLIUyiZIsOZcTGerc&hl=en&ei=V_4oTL_tJsqUnQfpva2pAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22roosevelt%22%20%22sellout%20to%20big%20business%22&f=false">(4)

"In particular, the (President's) (economic policies) despite its many faults could not be described as fascist. But definitely...was corporatist." http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/corporatism.htm">(5)

On its face, these quotes are not very different from what we hear about Pres. Obama from a great deal of his critics. He's spending too much. He's sending us down the road to fascism. He's selling the nation out to big business. And, above all, he's a corporatist.

But these quotes aren't about Pres. Obama. No, they're about FDR. And outside the last one, they all came from Huey Long.



Long spent a great deal of the Roosevelt administration railing against it because, in his view, they had not kept up their promise to instigate a share the wealth platform that Long had heavily favored in the 1932 presidential election.

He had been an early supporter of Roosevelt, until the president took office. Then, not feeling Roosevelt was doing enough, came after him from the left. He opposed the New Deal, specifically the National Recovery Act, because he believed it to be a sellout to big business. He cheered when the Supreme Court struck down a great deal of the New Deal policies because he thought they were too fascist - too favorable to corporations.

These quotes are nearly 80 years old and yet, they're eerily similar to what we hear about Pres. Obama today.

Does that mean I believe Obama is the next Roosevelt? Of course not. But let's stop pretending Roosevelt was some leftist dream in the 1930s and 40s. He wasn't. A great deal on the left opposed him because they didn't believe his policies did enough or were good enough.

While they are two different men, time certainly absolved Roosevelt of his misgivings and I believe, years from now, it will do the same for Pres. Obama.

For full disclosure, I substituted Roosevelt's name with the generic term the president to drive home my point. The quotes, however, are essentially unaltered.

[Radical Activist]

1. Interesting post.

Of course, there were times when Huey Long and FDR's other critics were correct. Sometimes FDR changed his position and other times he didn't.

For example, FDR was probably too worried about keeping the deficit low during his first two years instead of applying Keynesian principles he used later.

It's also worth remember that some of Long's comments had another agenda. He was planning his own Presidential campaign against Roosevelt.

With both Presidents there are good and bad things. The left should criticize the bad just as much as it praises the good. I think that some on the left have forgotten how to praise a President or organize when there's someone popular and responsive in the White House. It has been too long. New tactics are called for.

[zalinda]

2. When there is someone in the White House that is

responsive, let me know. So far, he only responds to corporations.

zalinda

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Proving my point.

Thanks, Zalinda!

:hi:

[Radical Activist]

6. I just showed in another thread

that he doesn't only respond to corporations. And you're still convinced he's up to no good. It sounds like your attitude about Obama is too personal to be objective about his actions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8652859&mesg_id=8652859

[laughingliberal]

14. It is disconcerting to see his appointees to the deficit commission. Alan "I hate all old people...

except me" Simpson and Erskine Bowles who only failed to privatize SS during the Clinton administration due to the impeachment. If you're not approaching your 60's as I am or in your early 60's (as my husband is) having lost everything you've worked for over 30-40 years in this disaster of an economy, you have the luxury of being dispassionate about the whole thing. If you're us and facing probable starvation, it's personal. I had great hope for Barack Obama's Presidency. Every day brings less reason to hope and we are scared.

[saracat]

30. Amen LL.We are in the same boat. We have NO reason to hope and

people keep telling us we should be grateful for crumbs. Sorry but as I watch a life's work destroyed, I really can't be grateful as I see NOTHING replacing it. The long term unemployed numbers are frightening. We are in that number. We stopped collecting unemployment years ago. And the Social Security Commission is outright scary.

[joe black]

33. + 1 gazillion.

[great white snark]

4. New tactics indeed

Excellent post!

:fistbump:

[SlipperySlope]

5. Good points...

...if you squint a little you could easily think those quotes had been uttered this month.

[uponit7771]

7. FDR had an 80+% dem congress....Obama has no where close to that and has problems almost as bad

[KoKo]

18. I know...we shouldn't be comparing FDR and Obama...Apples & Oranges....

Can't imagine why some DU'ers thought "Change" would be FDR Style? Can You... They must have been very Clueless about History! How could ANYONE confuse FDR and OBAMA as possibly having the same interest?

Obama "NEW WORLD DEM!" ....FDR..."OLD WORLD ENTITLED DEM!"

It's impossible to compare the two so many Decades apart. Obama is the FUTURE...FDR is the WAY PAST!

[laughingliberal]

8. This seems to be the GD:P talking point of the day. Let's defend President Obama by showing FDR was

a POS. Disgusting.

[Drunken Irishman]

9. Did you even read my post?

Or did you have your talking points ready when you clicked?

When did I ever infer FDR was a POS in this post?

I was only pointing out he had his fair share of critics on the left.

Just like Obama.

We often ignore the fact Roosevelt had a pragmatic side - which ultimately led to many of his accomplishments.

[laughingliberal]

10. FDR did have critics on the left. In the end he responded to their criticism and moved left.

I sincerely hope we see that from President Obama at some point. So far, I have not seen that and I have seen him go on Fox news and brag about beating back proposals from the left. FDR did not come into office with a road map out of a Depression from a previous President in place. President Obama did. I see no reason why he has found it necessary to reinvent the wheel on this. We had no such economic horror when the New Deal was intact. 30 years of dismantling it got us where we are. It's perfectly obvious the answer is to restore those policies.

My husband and I have worked ourselves to exhaustion over the course of our lives trying to 'make it' in the modern robber baron years. We've lost everything in this economy. I'm poor, hungry, sick, and have a sick husband with no health insurance who is still struggling to try to provide for us in this economic hell that destroyed a business he opened in 1982.. We share a couch at the home of a friend without whom we'd be in a box on the street. My patience is thin for the appeasement of the right and the policies that led us here to begin with. Those unaffected may have the luxury of patience and cute word games. We do not.

[Drunken Irishman]

11. He didn't really move left at all.

Long was a critic of FDR up until his death.

[laughingliberal]

12. Well, he certainly moved further left than anything I've seen from the current administration.

I'd settle for that.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. That's subjective...

Like I said, many on the left opposed FDR's New Deal because they thought it was a corporate give away. We've also got to put things into context - FDR had a far wider majority in both the House and Senate to push through his legislation. Beyond that, though, Roosevelt got in trouble for overreaching.

His entire second term was dominated by another economic recession and though he was able to get through a stimulus package, there were few accomplishments. Add to that the controversy of trying to stack the Supreme Court and you could almost say Roosevelt's second term was almost as big of a failure as his first term was a success.

He also lost key seats in the midterm election after his initial reelection. Most those who went down to defeat were pro-New Deal Democrats and it led to Robert Taft joining with Conservative Democrats to essentially block Roosevelt from getting any of his domestic proposals enacted into law.

Of course, Roosevelt's third term was mostly dealing with WWII.

But even Roosevelt's ability to get things done were strained because of conservative Democrats.

[laughingliberal]

20. History has shown FDR's policies and the New Deal worked. There has been little or no push to

restore the elements of the New Deal that kept us out of a mess like this for all these years. Sure, I'd prefer a little to the left of FDR but I'd settle for FDR. We're dying, here and it, increasingly, looks as if no help is coming. Next up: Excellent adventures in deficit reduction compliments of some of the worst haters of the social safety net to infest government in decades. It is not a question to me whether the President gets things done. It is what things he attempts to get done. Just 2 weeks ago, he woke up (finally) and told Congress spending cuts now would be a mistake. After giving a forum to the deficit hawks for more than a year (and their very own draconian commission), he sees reality speeding towards us and calls for sanity. Too late. He empowered the deficit hawks and they aren't going to budge, now.

[Radical Activist]

31. Obama is probably following FDR too closely.

During his first two years in office, FDR was too worried about keeping down deficits. Much of his early action to stop the depression was aimed at the financial industry. The big Keynesian deficit spending and WPA/CCC work programs didn't come until after those first two years in office. There was a point when Roosevelt scaled back the job programs to keep down the deficit and the depression got worse.

I hope Obama learns from FDR's early mistakes and doesn't worry too much about the deficit. He also needs to do more direct job creation programs instead of relying on grants and subsidies.

[KoKo]

21. FDR WAS A POS! His administration was "Glass-Steagall" separating Investment Banks from

Community Banks...and he put in SOCIALIZED REFORMS...like WPC that built Roads and Arts Centers and Planted Trees and greens to stop EROSION in denuded America wrought by the Timber Industry...and he gave money for Parks and BUILDING PARKS...and he tried to do GOOD for AVERAGE AMERICANS...but he was WRONG.

Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand had the REAL STORY! It's who get's to the TOP that DESERVES THE REWARDS in FEE CAPITALIST SOCIETY!

We don't want any SOCIALISTS...COMMIES INFESTING US ....Do We? We fought too long and Reagan as President and the Bush I and II showed us that that Socialist/Commie Stuff just doesn't work ...unless you are CHINA or INDONESIA...!

Fucking Commies/Socialist really are Face Rippers trying to destroy AMERICA!

[truedelphi]

24. yeah, if FDR had simply avoided the Glass Steagall separations, this

Nation would not have had such a prosperous time from 1949 to 1970 something.

And without that prosperity, right now, people would not be so almighty mad at the banking crowd.

We would be a lot more understanding that we peons are just peons, and never mind about our right to have a home, a job and occasionally some decent food.

Or health care.

Or secure economic savings establishments.

Or decent education for our kids.

[KoKo]

29. DAMNED RIGHT! ....What a FAILURE he WAS....! n/t

[Arkana]

32. Don't believe the OP was saying that at all.

Just that people called FDR a filthy corporatist in his day, too.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

36. This seems to be the GD:P tactic of the day.

Let's completely distort every argument used to defend President Obama into something that's either completely untrue or utterly fascist. Disgusting.

[GlennWRECK]

15. Don't your parents teach you from a young age that debt is bad?

Sheesh!

[KoKo]

16. Don't Worry...BE HAPPY...and that Hitler Pic wants me to do a DU MOD ALERT!

WTF is going on here?

[Drunken Irishman]

17. What Hitler pic?

[hileeopnyn8d]

19. Umm...

that's not Hitler.

[KoKo]

22. Huey Long showed in Hitler Posture? You don't get the inference?

Yeah...probably an I-Pod attached......Wooo Hooo GAMING!

[Drunken Irishman]

23. Riiiiight.

:eyes:

[phleshdef]

25. Right because a billion other people haven't used that same posture during speeches.

[KoKo]

27. Huey Long Created the "Share Our Wealth Program"..."Progressive Populist!"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long

Huey Long
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long

United States Senator
from Louisiana
In office
January 25, 1932 – September 10, 1935
Preceded by Joseph E. Ransdell
Succeeded by Rose Long
40th Governor of Louisiana
In office
May 27, 1928 – January 25, 1932


Profession Lawyer, U.S. Senator, Governor

Huey Pierce Long, Jr. (August 30, 1893 - September 10, 1935), nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, Long split with Roosevelt in June 1933 and allegedly planned to mount his own presidential bid.

Long created the Share Our Wealth program in 1934, with the motto "Every Man a King," proposing new wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on corporations and individuals to curb the poverty and crime resulting from the Great Depression. To stimulate the economy, Long advocated federal spending on public works, public education, old age pensions and other social programs. He was an ardent critic of the Federal Reserve System's policies to reduce lending. Charismatic and immensely popular for his social reform programs and willingness to take forceful action, Long was accused by his opponents of dictatorial tendencies for his near-total control of the state government.

At the height of his popularity, Long was shot on September 8, 1935, at the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge. He died two days later at the age of 42. It is unclear whether he was assassinated, or accidentally killed by bodyguards who believed an assassination attempt was in progress. His last words were reportedly, "God, don't let me die, I have so much left to do."<1>

[Number23]

26. Sweet Fancy Moses...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

37. !

:rofl:

Classic episode. (Seinfeld, not the poster)

[emulatorloo]

34. I think you may have a reading comprehension problem. That isn't Hitler, and the OP does not call

FDR a POS.

[KoKo]

39. No...it was the "VISUAL" that caused me to post. You might want to check out

the Visual before you post insulting remarks to your fellow DU'er.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

38. I can't tell which phase of the meltdown this is.

[Number23]

28. Interesting post, DI. Thanks for this. And thanks for being the catalyst

for the unexpected comedy routine upthread. ;)

[MadHound]

35. A couple of huge differences between FDR and Obama,

First, Roosevelt was much less beholding to corporations and the rich and elite, unlike Obama. Second, FDR has the great good political sense to throw the left some huge rewards during his administration in order to keep them as part of the Democratic coalition. The largest of these rewards were Social Security and Unemployment Insurance, two programs that his picked directly out of the Socialist platform and made his own.

[KoKo]

40. Oh...So much TIME has passed...should we even be trying to compare the two of them?

So much has changed...different times...different ways of Communication and all of it.

We need to MOVE ON..and do OUR OWN JUDGEMENT of how our LEADERS are WORKING for US.....

FDR was a great man who managed to turn around a very dark time...but we dwell on him TOO MUCH. OBAMA probably has slight insight into FDR. Obama grew up MULTI-CULTURAL and he doesn't have any loyalty to this OLD AMERICAN HISTORY STUFF... AND GOOD FOR HIM!

The World we have today is GLOBAL ....and OBAMA IS PART OF THAT WORLD...we cannot go back to FDR to solve our Problems...but Obama's lack of some historical background in his CORE OR BEING ...does make one worry if he feels, (in his mind) that GLOBILIZATION is MORE IMPORTANT than a COHESIVE FUNCTIONING SOCIETY.

There are WORRIES THERE!

[Mimosa]

41. This war is costing more than we can afford

WE don't make anything in the USA anymore so we are borrowing money.

It's unsustainable.