franklin delano roosevelt and barack hussein obama
This morning NPR’s Renee Montagne interviewed Donald Ritchie, author of Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932. He seems to implicitly, tacitly compare FDR to Obama, noting that when FDR was campaigning, he stuck to a message of optimism, without getting mired in the specifics. He also pointed out that in 1932, the choice seemed to be between FDR’s message of hope and Herbert Hoover’s message of fear.
Ever since September 2001, I’ve kept FDR’s 70+ year old message in my heart, as an antidote to the fear-mongering and pathologic lying of the Bush Administration, the lame-brainedness and near-total worthlessness of the Department of Homeland Security, and the ignorance of some Americans who think all brown-skinned people are terrorists, who wanted to stupidly invade Iraq when our enemy was in Afghanistan, who probably couldn’t even find Iraq on a map.
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.
—[Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inaugural speech, given on March 4, 1932][2]