General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Is FDR Dead... In The Current Democratic Party... Because if It Is... [View all]wyldwolf
(43,867 posts)How about this: FDR wasn't the left-progressive today's 'progressive' movement imagines he was. He was a good president in a profession where the bar is set pretty low. He sensed a shift in the electoral mood in the early 1930s and went with it (Some here would call him an opportunist.) He co-opted much of the left's rhetoric to keep progressive third party threats at bay, he saved capitalism and he undercut 'progressives' of his day, 'progressives' of his day didn't care for him much, he cut deals with conservatives on civil rights to get parts of the New Deal passed (some here would call that triangulation), many of his policies were racist, he didn't intend for welfare to be a permanent government expenditure. He was propagandist, criticized as a war monger and a one-percenter.