We are presently in the midst of an economic turmoil that some have been comparing to the Great Depression. Seventy five years ago it took a liberal Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to save America from the vicissitudes of the Republican governance in the prior twelve years that brought the country to the brink of economic collapse. It is now time for the mantle of FDR and the New Deal to be passed to Barack Obama, our greatest hope to lead America out of the morass of the Bush/Cheney/McCain administration in this new century.
Given what is happening in our financial sectors, coupled with poll data that indicates that a majority of older Americans continue to support the McCain campaign, I believe that the legacy and continuing viability of a cornerstone of FDR's New Deal, Social Security, may be a critical component of Obama's ability to reach this critical group of older voters. Bush and McCain would seemingly have laid waste to the viability of Social Security if they had their way. An Obama Administration will indeed save Social Security now and in the future.
This morning I was thinking back to that day just several months after the debacle of the 2004 election when a new United States Senator from Illinois gave a speech entitled "A Hope to Fulfill" on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. As a representative of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute (which helped to sponsor the event) I was there that day to be with Senator Obama. I could not help but share with my friends and colleagues on leaving the wonderful gathering that we might have just found the person to pick up the great mantle of Franklin D. Roosevelt. And look where we are today, just a few short years later! I prize being able to be in Washington, D.C. that day. Here are some of Senator Obama's remarks from the gathering, and should serve as a basis for the Obama campaign to remind older voters just who is looking out for their financial security, as opposed to McCain and Bush:
Think about the America that Franklin Roosevelt saw when he looked out the windows of the White House from his wheelchair - an America where too many were ill-fed, ill-clothed, ill-housed, and insecure. An America where more and more Americans were finding themselves on the losing end of a new economy, and where there was nothing available to cushion their fall.
Some thought that our country didn't have a responsibility to do anything about these problems, that people would be better off left to their own devices and the whims of the market. Others believed that American capitalism had failed and that it was time to try something else altogether.
But our President believed deeply in the American idea.
He understood that the freedom to pursue our own individual dreams is made possible by the promise that if fate causes us to stumble or fall, our larger American family will be there to lift us up. That if we're willing to share even a small amount of life's risks and rewards with each other, then we'll all have the chance to make the most of our God-given potential.
And because Franklin Roosevelt had the courage to act on this idea, individual Americans were able to get back on their feet and build a shared prosperity that is still the envy of the world.
The New Deal gave the laid-off worker a guarantee that he could count on unemployment insurance to put food on his family's table while he looked for a new job. It gave the young man who suffered a debilitating accident assurance that he could count on disability benefits to get him through the tough times. A widow might still raise her children without the indignity of charity. And Franklin Roosevelt's greatest legacy promised the couple who put in a lifetime of sacrifice and hard work that they could retire in comfort and dignity because of Social Security.
Here is the full text of Senator Obama's National Press Club speech on Social Security and the legacy of FDR and the New Deal.
I hope that as the campaign for president enters its final phase Senator Obama can publicly emphasize this legacy of Social Security, which could form the cornerstone of his reaching out to older American voters, and remind them with the evidence of his convictions, that economic and social security for our senior citizens is a cornerstone of an Obama presidency, in contrast to the risky schemes of a continuing Bush/McCain administration that will leave many senior citizens in the cold. The legacy and ongoing viability of Social Security may be a key to Obama receiving the electoral support of a majority of older American voters.