I proffer this diary as a reflection in contrasts, between the greatest president we have had and the worst one we could possibly ever have.
I read a book review this morning about the new biography of FDR that has just come out. It is apparently quite excellent and I plan on buying it as soon as possible. What struck me, especially on Memorial Day weekend, was the contrast the book review presented of FDR and the present occupant of the White House. Not that the book seems to deliberately do so, but some of the passages were such contrasts to what we are now dealing with from the Bush administration that I was compelled to diary it.
Read on, McDuff..
In the book review, they mention that FDR, in spite of being an American aristocrat who had never had to worry about money, education or anything else, had the common touch, and understood the needs and problems of the ordinary citizen. And he acted to do what he could about the most urgent needs, the WPA, the REA that brought electricity to hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions, the one we still use every day, Social Security.
Contrast that with Bush who is "a guy you would like to have a beer with", but has ignored the needs and demands of the citizens he works for, and couldn't care less about their welfare or safety, except for photo ops, of course. This is what the King of England said about Roosevelt and his way of listening to the people..so different from our George telling us what to think.
by King George VI, who watched Roosevelt's helmsmanship with undisguised admiration. 'I have been so struck' he wrote the president, 'by the way you have led public opinion by allowing it to get ahead of you.'
Now we all know that Bush has yet to attend a military funeral, and he doesn't have anywhere near as hectic or full a schedule as FDR had during WWII. And he regards wounded soldiers as just another photo op for political points..never mind the care that most of them get is sub-standard due to outsourcing by the DoD. Contrast Bush's behavior with the description of FDR visiting troops, amputees.
His sympathy for ordinary soldiers was bottomless; during one visit to a military hospital, he insisted on being wheeled into a ward for soldiers who had lost one or both legs, so they could see his own withered and useless limbs.
And you know that it wasn't for the photo op because there was a gentlemen's agreement between Roosevelt and the press not to show him in his wheelchair.
And then there is the way the two Presidents managed the wars..Roosevelt waited until Pearl Harbor, even though he knew war was coming..
Roosevelt had far better taste in generals than Lincoln did -- he moved George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower way up in the ranks in order to put them in the positions in which they served so brilliantly -- and his understanding of public opinion never served him, or the country, better. Long before almost anyone else, he understood that this was a war in which the United States eventually would have to fight, but he also understood America's reluctance to enter another overseas conflict so soon after World War I. He was determined "not to get too far in front of public opinion,"
Roosevelt got ready ahead of time, legally, so that the people and industries that would be needed would be in position to do the job. The conversion of US industry to a war footing happened faster than anyone could have imagined because Roosevelt had briefed them and given them the list of war needs that they would be producing. So industry was prepared to go to war. Bush told us to go shopping to help the war effort and gave huge no bid contracts to all his cronies. Bush put in a series of incompetents, undersupplied the troops and didn't give the generals the troops they said they would need to begin with. And the aftercare of wounded veterans is simply shameful, shameful.
"FDR did not second-guess or micromanage the military. More than any president before or since, he was uniquely able to select outstanding military leaders and give them sufficient discretion to do their jobs."
And the final, and in my view the most telling, contrast between the two.. their Vice Presidents..when FDR decided to run for the fourth term, he dumped his VP and chose Truman.. and here is why..
Given the desperate state of Roosevelt's health at the time, it is almost certain that he knew he was choosing the country's next president. Rising above himself yet one more time, he secured his high and unique place in American history by choosing the right man for the job.
And Bush chose Cheney, or let Cheney choose himself, either way it was a very bad decision.