Obama no FDR - Wish he were like a Betty Ford! 

Obama is no FDR. Wish he were like a Betty Ford!

When Republican reactionaries ganged up on Francis Perkins, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s choice for the Department of Labor in the early ‘30s (from which vantage point Perkins launched child labor laws, collective bargaining for unions, social security and other badly needed reforms), FDR backed her. He did not give in.

This week, when Republican rightwing bullies assailed Elizabeth Warren, the indefatigable creator of the much needed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Obama blinked, refused to nominate Ms. Warren to be its deserved head, and chose instead the Ohio Attorney General, Richard Cordray. Unlike FDR, Obama gave in.

His efforts to placate the bullies only increases their bullying. They think he is a pushover for his pains, scorn him, and push even harder on their settled intention to destroy his policies, destroy the people on his team who could help him stand and deliver for those policies, and destroy him.

It’s probably the case that the situation facing Obama is tougher than the one FDR was caught up in. But not by all that much, I suspect. Obama needs to see that sometimes, and that sometimes is now, a desperate situation requires a willingness to risk and a willingness to stand up to bullies. The situation in WDC is desperate by any measurement and according to any reasonably astute observer. He can’t go on losing his grip like this.

He may think that placating the bullies will help him win the election in 16 months. But he is wrong about that, too. And why not stand up, forget what his handlers are telling him, and go fight for what he wants. Having said that, I’ve got to ask myself, maybe he doesn’t want a renewed America. Maybe all he wants is to stay in office. If true, that would be truly sad. I wish he were more like Betty Ford! That would arouse America to his side.

John Rensenbrink

Comments