If Obama and those around him really think he is FDR come again - and they seem to - then he will crack up for sure. Because this is not 1933 and he is no FDR.
First of all, people in 1933 had been through four grinding years of real depression and were desperate. Constitutional government was looking shaky. People wanted somebody to believe in. There was a desperate yearning for FDR's plan to work.
In 2009, the much much richer Americans of today have been through a few months of a bad recession. They are not bailing on free enterprise and would much rather see the bad actors go bankrupt than be bailed out.
Only about 30% of the country favors this lurch to the left. I bet that the 20% or so who thought they were voting for a moderate Democrat last November already have buyer's remorse.
So Obama doesn't have FDR's running room, just a honeymoon period to cram as much through before people catch on to what he's doing. Furthermore, Obama doesn't have FDR's cannyness or skill, and he's outsourcing the legislation to Nancy Pelosi, who's dumb as dirt. FDR knew not to push too far, and would use Eleanor to send up trial balloons. Obama doesn't show any signs of having such skill.
Pollster John Zogby said that after his first 100 days, Obama now embarks on another weighty period in which Americans will want to see evidence that his $787 billion economic stimulus approved in February is working.
How can it be "working" when less than 15 billion dollars of the money has even been allocated? At least FDR's government hired people and showed action, even if we know now that the action wasn't productive. Obama has nothing to show but trillions in new debt.
"I think he will always stay personally popular," said Republican strategist Charlie Black, who was a senior adviser on Republican John McCain's presidential campaign last year. "But when you test the individual policies, a majority will tell you we're spending too much money."
We haven't seen Obama handle real adversity yet -- and there are plenty of signs that he is thin skinned. I don't think he will stay popular. When messiahs fail, the crowd turns on them.
At 100 days, Carter was even more popular than Obama is now. But he didn't stay popular. |
