Dusting off Roosevelt...

Dusting off Roosevelt...

With all the turmoil in the financial and political markets these days, I'm not surprised to see FDR dusted off and quoted.

Comments from his 1932 campaign are being trotted out, presumably as justification for ramming through the $700 Billion bail out.

The "mirage" of American economic invulnerability has vanished, along with "much of the savings of thrifty and prudent men and women...

We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary, the faults in our economic system from which we now suffer...

The country needs and - unless I mistake its temper - the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."

I once heard it said that FDR's genius was not that he got it right, but that he was willing (based on the advice of a broad, diverse group of experts) to try. And if that failed, to try something else.

What a contrast to what we've had the last 8 years: get advice from a diverse group of experts, and readily admit to failure and try something else. We've had 'My way or the highway' and 'If you question me you're not a true american' and 'Leadership is persevering with your original vision because it is right, even when everyone else says it is wrong.'

I also want to point out that this speech was made in May 1932, three years into the Great Depression, not prior to the 1929 crash.

The Barn Owls have been doing a little of their own dusting off, reviving a song that came out a week after the 1936 election:

Just hand me my old Martin for soon I will be startin'
Back to dear old Charleston far away
Since Roosevelt's been re-elected, we'll not be neglected
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Back again, back again
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Since Roosevelt's been re-elected
  Moon liquor's been corrected
  We've got legal wine, whiskey, beer and gin

I'll take a drink of brandy and let myself be handy
Good old times are coming back again
You can laugh and tell a joke, you can dance and drink and smoke
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Back again, back again
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  We'll have money in our jeans
  We can travel with the queen
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again

No more breadlines, we're happy to say the donkey won election day
No more standing in the blowing, snowing rain
He's got things in full swing, we're all working and getting our pay
We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Back again, back again
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again
  Since Roosevelt's been re-elected
  Moon liquor's been corrected
  We've got Franklin D. Roosevelt back again

Bev usually introduces it with "Go Dems!"