Friday, March 20, 2009

Obama and Roosevelt

As I watched the news today I was struck at how intentionally the Obama campaign/administration is seeking to model themselves after the FDR administration.
This was a surprise to me, this modeling after FDR, because during the Presidential Campaign Obama seemed to be intentionally modeling his image after JFK. This was especially apparent if you went to his rallies. Even the pictures and the themes seemed at points very reminiscent of the 60s.

Here are a few of the things that remind me of the FDR administration:

1. The consistent labeling of our economic problems as the problems created by the previous president. What were the shantytowns called during the great depression? They were called Hoovervilles. And when it comes to any of the complications from the TARPs and bailouts, the current administration is sucessfully spinning the current problems as issues that are inherited and not created by themn.

2. It is hard to turn on the news and not observe that President Obama likes being on the television. Whether he is choosing his brackets, or showing up on the Today Show, the President seeks out media coverage. This reminds me of FDR as well. In his day, President Roosevelt harnessed the radio for consant "fireside chats". The Obama press machine is harnessing all medias in the same way as Roosevelt utilized the radio.

3. Today Michele Obama planted a organic garden on the White House property. The last time this was done it was done during the Great Depression. It was then, as now, a symblolic act of identification by the Obama family with people in financial hardship across the country.

Whate else do you see?

1 comment:

Stan Harrington said...

Like you, I am starting to get Presidential burnout syndrome due to the number of appearances that he makes on TV and the internet. He never saw a camera that he did not like. If it is not him, it is his Press Secretary. Like you, I am trying to discover his true identity. During the days of the campaign, he was President Kennedy. At the end of the campaign season and into the early days of his Presidency he switched to Abraham Lincoln now he is President Roosevelt. For some reason, I have an instinct that eventually he will become Richard Nixon. The recorded tapes from the Oval Office will be most interesting to listen to.

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