How FDR Rolled

I'm not sure what will come of the next couple of years in terms of American governance, but I think that it's safe to say there will only be more time wasting and name calling and obstruction, and that much much less will be accomplished than was in the past two years.

For all of my complaints about the Obama Administration not throwing its weight around as much as I would have liked, it's worth noting how much they did get done.  Ezra Klein (who you should be reading) did a better job of that than I could a couple of days ago, make sure to skim it at least.

In terms of electoral politics and talking points though it's hard to argue with this angry take over on First Draft.  I'll give you the ending but you should check it out, it's short and cathartic and quite blue (in the language sense).

You had majorities. You had power and you told us you were powerless. Why would anyone reward that with more power? Why would anyone think that's a good idea?

It was also interesting to hear Rob Reich talking about whether this was 1994 and Clinton or 1936 and FDR on the radio the other day.  Reich says Obama needs to look at how FDR rolled if he wants to get reelected, and I think he's right. 

The piece also played a great clip from a 1936 speech that FDR made that I had astonishingly never heard before.  The choice bits are below, you can read the prepared text and listen to the whole thing at UVA's archive site.



Reminds a bit of another favorite speech of mine.

(First Draft rant via Dependable Erection)