Democratic Party has forgotten how to govern and the White House has forgotten how to lead.

[pscot]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/opinion/03smith.html?em


This was not true of Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Congresses that enacted the New Deal. With the exception of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 (which gave the president authority to close the nation’s banks and which passed the House of Representatives unanimously), the principal legislative innovations of the 1930s were enacted over the vigorous opposition of a deeply entrenched minority. Majority rule, as Roosevelt saw it, did not require his opponents’ permission.

When Roosevelt asked Congress to establish the Tennessee Valley Authority to provide cheap electric power for the impoverished South, he did not consult with utility giants like Commonwealth and Southern. When he asked for the creation of a Securities and Exchange Commission to curb the excesses of Wall Street, he did not request the cooperation of those about to be regulated. When Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act divesting investment houses of their commercial banking functions, the Democrats did not need the approval of J. P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers.

Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard and Congress enacted legislation nullifying clauses in private contracts stipulating payment in gold over the heated opposition of many of the nation’s wealthy. The Agricultural Adjustment Act setting production quotas and establishing price supports was adopted over the fierce opposition of the nation’s food processors. Establishment of the Civilian Conservation Corps was fought tooth and nail by organized labor because of the corps’ modest wages. Social Security became law over the ideological objections of those who believed that government was best which governed least and that individuals should fend for themselves or rely on charity. And the authority of the government to set maximum hours and minimum wages, as well as the right of labor to bargain collectively, was established despite the vociferous opposition of American business (more)

[Dr Fate]

1. For this decade, FDR is a better model than Clinton. n/t

n/t

[pscot]

3. For this decade

or any other.

[whirlygigspin]

2. have your cake and eat it too

Yes, but FDR wasn't desperately trying to win the approval of the facists.

[AuntPatsy]

5. Thank you...honestly..some people who show such intelligence seem to have left their common sense

out of their postings...

[tularetom]

4. Go to the DLC website and enter "the new team" in the search box

and you will see exactly what is wrong with the WH.

The entire Obama cabinet is part of the "new team".

And the head turd in the punch bowl is Rahm Emanuel. Who I believe would trash the presidency of this decent man to achieve the goals of the corporate assholes who are pulling his strings.

Obama needs to jettison this piece of shit now before he can fuck up anything else the way he has deliberately fucked up health care.

[laughingliberal]

6. My favorite political fantasy is currently that we wake up to hear of RE's resignation

Probably won't happen but I can dream.

[jeffbr]

7. This White House looks just as corrupt as the last one

Same old crap, except for minor cosmetic/superficial touchups

[Dr Fate]

8. While I like the article, I'll disagree with all of that.

You are entitled to that opinion, but Obama is no Cheney- that's beyond laughable.

[pscot]

9. Obama may not measure up to the stature of FDR

But he's head and shoulders above the boy king and his evil dwarf. Obama may be timid, but he's not not corrupt. I think he's getting some bad advice, and leaning far too heavily on the counsel of his experts.

[sabrina 1]

10. You confuse policy disagreements with corruption

Did you come here just to drop that little bit of wisdom?

There will never be nor ever has been an administration as corrupt as the Bush administration.

Cleaning it up will take decades. Obama's mistake is to think he can, or even needs, the cooperation of a party that is corrupt to the core. Hopefully he has learned this by now and will proceed to use the political capital he has to get the people's business done without them.