Which potential presidential candidate is/would be the most like FDR?

[MannyGoldstein]

I recently visited FDR's home/presidential library/grave, and it struck me full on: FDR got the job done. He led us out of crushing economic straights, and through saving the planet from monstrous tyranny.

I got to thinking: who can get the job done now?

[WI_DEM]

1. None of them. They are all their own unique person.

[saltpoint]

2. Presidents play on the stage of the current drama.

It's true they can leave their individual mark on events, but they walk into office while the world is as it is at that moment.

Good for you, Manny, to have visited the FDR site. He is owed respect and you are showing it. What is very sad and distressing is that a bumbling galoot like Bush -- either of them -- could likely defeat a candidate like Franklin Roosevelt in these most recent generations. Big-picture governors of New York aren't what people in Virginia Foxx's district are looking for in a leader, which is not limited to that one district. Gore won the most votes in 2000, but by the very narrowest of margins, meaning that almost half of U.S. voters thought George W. Bush was an acceptable choice for a president.

In that climate, could someone like Franklin Roosevelt be elected?

[MannyGoldstein]

3. FDR could win for the same reason that Obama won

People are in pain, and want policies that help working Americans. FDR sent a clear message that he'd help working Americans with a New Deal - and he delivered, which set the stage for a more-or-less permanent Democratic majority in Congress for the next 60 years.

[geek tragedy]

9. FDR had a giant Congressional advantage plus

a Senate that did not filibuster everything to death.

FDR was a Democrat who could count on the vast majority of white racist Southerners to support his agenda.

[saltpoint]

33. Agree on the legacy but still would reiterate that

it is laid upon existing context and not created from scratch.

There is a confluence of forces and perceptions that go a long way toward determining the success of a presidential term.

[JustAnotherGen]

4. I voted Grayson

But I think these times show Great Division within the US and Obama has the calmness, coolness, collected head to keep us intact as a country. In that case *gulp in anticipation of the pile of bricks coming my way* - I see him more Lincolnesque that Roosevelt.

[earthside]

5. Well, not Obama.

I can imagine any of the others saying what FDR said about the big monied interests ... but Pres. Obama seems incapable of telling it like it is.

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace: business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me – and I welcome their hatred.

That wasn't very 'bipartisan' on FDR's part, was it?

[suzie]

6. I suspect that, just like Obama, Roosevelt had to struggle with people from his own side that hated

him far more than they hated conservatives.

[flamingdem]

13. I'd like to investigate the further, I bet you are correct nt

[JuniperLea]

25. Well said, Suzie.

:thumbsup:

[geek tragedy]

8. FDR did not challenge the KKK and white supremacists in his own party.

So, he also was unwilling to face down powerful, evil interests in his own way.

[Radical Activist]

11. But many of those people were also his summer vacation buddies.

If you want to get honest about things.

[phleshdef]

7. Whichever one has a 69-76 vote majority to kiss his/her ass.

[Milo_Bloom]

10. The way things are shaping up.. it would have to come from outside.

It seems that no matter what a democrat says or does, the republicans will paint them as a socialist (even if their policies are so far from socialism it is laughable).

I fear that no reasonable/intelligent candidate can get through the republican primiaries.


I am beginning to feel that, at this point, the only chance we have for real, sweeping, change in the style of FDR, is if it comes from completely outside either party and an independent candidate gets into the presidency riding a wave of popularity. The parties wouldn't be able to fall back into their normal pattern of "If THEY said it, it must be bad", that is see from both republicans and democrats.

[Radical Activist]

12. Obama is even repeating FDR's mistakes

like worrying too much about deficits during his first two years in office. I agree with the vast majority of people picking Obama.

[bigwillq]

14. Silly poll. Only Obama has the opportunity to

let's see what he does with it.

[vaberella]

15. Domestically, Defensively, or International?

Internationally and Defensively, thank God we don't have a President like FDR. Domestically too...since he was a seen as a racist. So...no one is like FDR. They're all different Presidents.

[grantcart]

16. and he had 12 years

[CakeGrrl]

17. Where's the OP's answer?

I notice for all the complaints that Obama is doing little to nothing right, I don't really see anyone suggesting a feasible, electable alternative.

Surely some of those who want Obama out know who they DO want? Or not?

And I don't mean "So-and-So would've done X, Y, and Z by now". I mean going forward.

[flamingdem]

18. I'd like to know the OP's opinion on the poll as well, thanks nt

[MannyGoldstein]

19. Dean or Grayson

Obviously no perfect matches - that's not the way nature works.

Both are practical, have gravitas, and have track records of fighting for working Americans.

As to the "feasible, electable" part - I don't know anyone who initially thought any of the following were feasible or electable when they first ran for office:

- Ronald Reagan
- Barack Obama
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

These things are tough to figure out. As long as there's gravitas, anything is possible (for better or worse).

[flamingdem]

22. While I like both of them in many areas I doubt they could govern

much less be electable. In both cases they would be seen by moderates as loose cannons.

[MannyGoldstein]

31. Grayson polls high even among Republicans in his district

And these are hard-red Florida Republicans.

Working Americans of all stripes understand when people are fighting for them. It's triangulation that gets them all nutty.

As to governing, Dean was a very successful governor, and ran our Party so well that we won back both houses of Congress after 12 years. I think the man has tremendous experience - why you think otherwise.

[Hawkowl]

20. Grayson would "welcome their hatred"

Grayson would be as combative and ruthless towards rethuglicans as FDR was.

Obama? Don't make me fucking laugh until I cry. Week kneed, Wall Street appeasing, never met a rich corporation he didn't like Obama? As FDR? Puke.

[flamingdem]

23. So you think Grayson is aiming for the presidency?

I suspect he is not interested in the top office.

[Hawkowl]

24. I agree with you

I don't think he is aiming for the presidency, but I'd sure be happy if he was. He would make an absolutely outstanding VP in the traditional role as attack dog.

[flamingdem]

28. Have to agree with you there, he's a pitbull! nt

[scheming daemons]

21. The poll's not turning out the way you expected... eh, Manny?

[dionysus]

26. well, this thread is full of FAIL.

:rofl:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

27. Douche chill!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=douche+chill

douche chill -
Introduced by the character Tobias Funke (David Cross) on the short-lived but acclaimed, award winning FOX sitcom Arrested Development. "Douche chill" is an exclamation calling attention to the embarrassment of someone who has brought ill consequences on themselves. Typically annunciated an octave or two higher than one's normal speaking voice and drawing out the "L" sound in "chill."

[SoxFan]

29. Wow

[Ter]

30. How could 72% say Obama?

He is nothing like FDR.

[MannyGoldstein]

32. Interesting, isn't it? nt

[Radical Activist]

37. Knowledge of history and a sense of perspective.

That's how.

[Exilednight]

40. More like lack of knowledge of history and no sense of perspective ..............

FDR managed to pass Social Security. Obama's equivalent would have been a single payer health care system. Now, fair enough that Obama did not run on a single payer system, but on the other hand, Obama didn't manage to pass the Public Option, much less a single payer system.

FDR spent more money than any President before him and America went under the greatest public works expansion ever seen in this country. Nothing Obama has done has even come close. Yes, he spent a trillion dollars, but even with all that money spent he didn't even get built 10% of what FDR did. Many roads and bridges are still in bad need of repair, public transport is being slashed throughout the country - not expanded, and schools are being closed at record rates while teachers unions are being destroyed.

[Radical Activist]

42. He had done almost none of that after his first two years of his first term.

In fact, he was too worried about deficits and the budget to launch many of your favorite New Deal programs in his first two years. People with historical knowledge would know that.

[Exilednight]

51. What history class did you take? FDR was elected in 1933 and had SS up arnd running in 1935 .......

His hands, in the beginning, were tied with the gold standard, but FDR took some very aggressive steps and took some very firm stands.


FDR's first hundred days set the standard for presidencies.

I will also include, a sense of historical perspective must include a quicker time line for Obama. FDR Served for nearly 11 1/2 years, the best Obama could hope for is 8. So, Obama has to accomplish nearly just as much in less time to even be considered to be on the same footing as FDR.

[Ter]

44. FDR was actually in charge

He was his own person, and didn't let anyone change his mind.

[Radical Activist]

45. You're proving my point.

He was influenced and changed his mind frequently. Like when he let Keynes convince him that he should stop worrying about running deficits and change course to spend even more on public works.

[Hekate]

34. FDR HAD 4 TERMS TO 'GET THE JOB DONE.' Will Obama have 4 terms to try?

FDR didn't just snap his fingers and get compliance from Wall Street and Congress in 18 months. Even the famous bills that were passed early on needed to be revisited, revised, and added to later on. He didn't have two shooting wars going on the day he swore in to office.

Having noted that, however, I voted for Obama.

Thanks for asking.

Hekate

[IndianaGreen]

35. Other: Hugo Chavez!

Chavez would be the closest thing to FDR, and then some!

[Kahuna]

36. Interesting....

:crazy:

[SoxFan]

43. Why not double down and say Pol Pot?

[jefferson_dem]

46. Joke.

I hope.

[proteus_lives]

47. Lulz.

:rofl:

[FrenchieCat]

38. I'd say that comparing a 12 year President's accomplishments

from over 50 years ago with congressional representatives, folks that never were President, and a President who will not have seen 1/2 of his first term until January 20, 2011 is quite strange.

[Onlooker]

39. FDR knew how to rally the country behind him

Obama knows how to suck up to the Republicans and he keeps doing it, but it doesn't rally the country behind him. So, in style, I'd say Obama is most like Carter. He's principled, but weak, not tough enough to stand up to the dangerous elements in this country. If FDR had been president, he would be using every opportunity to blast the Tea Party as a dangerous and unAmerican element bent on destroying this country. Obama's strategy is to make nice, and it's disgraceful. If the Tea Party grows in power, the Obama's presidency will mark the rise of fascism in our country as a result of ineffectual leadership by Obama.

I think in some ways Dean or Kucinich would be most like FDR, simply because they say what they think and aren't obsessed with playing the role of president like Obama does. Obama seems to act like a president from a child's storybook or a tv show, as if unaware of all the machinations of the political system. I'm finding him to be rather embarrassing at this point.

[Jennicut]

41. None of the above. No one will ever be like FDR as it was a different time period

and the country, media and political parties were extremely different in the 30's they they are in 2010. People who keep looking to replicate that unique time will be disappointed, it will never be replicated. People do not hang around radios listening to any piece of good news. Please. Our world was made bigger with technology and therefore we were made more skeptical of all our institutions. Comparing my generation (Gen X) and the one behind it (Gen Y) to my Grandmother's time period is ridiculous.

[TBF]

48. The more things change the more they stay the same -

the new generation always thinks they are experiencing everything for the first time. The equivalent to hanging around radios is pulling out your blackberry to check Twitter.

I certainly do believe Obama could be like FDR - because the only thing that forced FDR to actually do something was the threat of the communist party. We haven't replicated a challenge like that (some sort of similar movement) so Obama is just plodding along doing his job for the bankers. He's only going to help the little guy if he's forced with the assent of the moneyed (ie when they are scared enough to agree). Sadly we're not there yet.

[Jennicut]

52. FDR did not have the internet and 24 hour media to deal with.

Sorry, but things ARE different. Things have changed even from when I was in college in the mid 90's. The internet had just started then. I would say in the 1930's people were more willing to listen to what they were told and not question it. I have talked to my 89 year old Grandmother about this many times and just how different society was back then. You cannot overlook the changes, they are essential as to why were are where we are at now.

[TBF]

53. Just because people didn't have Facebook to mouth off on doesn't

mean people didn't question. Sinclair Lewis's "It Can't Happen Here" was published in 1935. The French Revolution started in 1789. An argument can be made that people were more focused because they didn't have so much propaganda constantly streaming at them 24/7.

Sorry, I'm not letting Obama off the hook that easy. "Oh it's so different, it's so hard". BS.

[yurbud]

49. a better question: WHOSE job are they trying to get done? The middle class's or

Wall Street's, which is destroying the middle class.

[jefferson_dem]

50. The choice is obvious...

Looks like DU nails it on this poll.