The wing-nuts are up in arms about a statement Senator Biden made during his recent interview with Katie Couric, where Biden states that FDR went on TV in 1929 after the stock market crash to tell the people what happened. Biden was using the example to demonstrate what true leadership looks like, and contrasting McSame’s negativity and attacks on Obama. Biden, simply, misspoke, but the rest of his statement about FDR and true leadership was dead on, as I will demonstrate after the jump.
Here is the full Biden quote:
"Part of what being a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate what he or she knows what they are talking about and to communicating to people ... this is how we can fix this," Biden said. "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'"
Of course, Biden meant radio, instead of television, but the rest of Biden’s statement was true. (As I demonstrate below). The gaffe-attacking, wing-nuts need to stop. Enough! This election is too important. They are not going to keep knocking Obama off message with this nonsense! They will not keep distracting people during this prime "silly season." We will not let them!.
This election will be won through wisdom, through who has the strongest issues, through substance, through who is best ready to lead this country. The gaffe hunters must stop. All the candidates are human. We can not reduce our political discussion in this country to the lowest common denominator, like these distractions do. Or as FDR once said:
"I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking."
(Not to mention, the hypocrisy of Republicans even uttering the word gaffe, when the King-of-all-gaffes is always just his next speech away from telling us how dehydrated babies need boiled water.)
Biden was right on about FDR as I am about to demonstrate. And below I list a few FDRisms in contrast to the McCainisms you can find in the link above. Why? –because his words ring to the tune of true leadership. His words demonstrate why the choice in this election is clear – we must elect Sen. Obama. His words can motivate us to make this happen.
In 1929 FDR was Governor of NY and he WAS already using radio at that time to bring his fight directly to the people. Nowhere in his quote does Biden claim FDR was President at the time, like many wing-nuts are also claiming. FDR honed his radio skills at that time and later used these skills to reassure the country during the great depression during his "fireside chats."
See the following quick examples (sources for each below).
In 1922, FDR became governor of New York. The U.S. economy was fundamentally unsound, and Governor Roosevelt predicted that a crash would soon come. The stock market crash of 1929 destroyed the savings and livelihood of millions of Americans, but then-President Hoover's policies did more harm than good. Meanwhile in New York, FDR implemented relief initiatives that foreshadowed his future strategy in fighting the Great Depression: unemployment insurance, pensions for the elderly, limits on work hours, and massive public works projects. His popularity allowed him to gain reelection as governor, a rare feat in the midst of depression.
Source for above
"As governor of New York he had used radio broadcasts to reach many -- and to do so over the heads of the state legislature when he became annoyed by its rejection of his proposed bills. His first radio address was broadcast in 1929 as a means to battle "a recalcitrant legislature." He opted to "take the issue to the people," and radio was the perfect medium for such a strategy.
Source for above
As governor of New York between 1928 and 1932, Roosevelt followed his predecessor Al Smith's practice of using radio to argue for his measures, honing his radio skills in the process.
Source for above
By the time Roosevelt became governor, millions of homes had radio sets. In a series of radio reports to the citizens of New York, he explained his proposals in plain everyday language. He pursuaded thousands of listeners to send letters and telegrams to the lawmakers who opposed him.
Source for above
I think we all still have much to learn from the words of FDR. The following are just a few lessons.
It was a time when words meant something. Politicians didn’t try to lie their way into office. As FDR put it:
"Repetition does not transform a lie into the truth."
Conservatives were frowned upon because they lacked new ideas and were stuck in the past.
"A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward."
FDR knew the dangers of trying to pass the cost of war off on the next generation.
"Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars."
"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars - yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments."
"Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged."
The world did not judge us because we were the toughest nation but because of what we stood for as a nation.
"Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough."
There was a place for cooperation and unity.
"I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made."
FDR knew what kind of economic leadership was needed to work together as a country to get out of the great depression.
"If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come."
"In our seeking for economic and political progress, we all go up - or else we all go down."
"It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose."
"Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country."
"Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."
FDR knew the "importance of now."
"The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart."
"There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
And he had a respect for religion.
"Whoever seeks to set one religion against another seeks to destroy all religion."
Lets make this election meaningful!. Lets spend the remaining time in this campaign working to get Sen. Obama’s stance on the issues to the voters and contrasting that stance with McSame’s positions. It is those issues that will decide this election. This election is too important. The time IS now. So, lets close with two more from FDR:
"The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government."
"Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting."
So vote and vote Obama!
(source for all FDR quotes linked above)