Tuesday, September 8, 2009

On "The Great Divider"

One of FDR's many biographers, Jean Edward Smith, counsels on the wisdom of strength:
"Roosevelt relished the opposition of vested interests. He fashioned his governing majority by deliberately attacking those who favored the status quo. His opponents hated him — and he profited from their hatred. “Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today,” he told a national radio audience on the eve of the 1936 election. “They are unanimous in their hatred for me — and I welcome their hatred.”

As for the President's (and our Party's) current leadership, Smith writes:
"President Obama's apparent readiness to backtrack on the public insurance option in his health care package is not just a concession to his political opponents — this fixation on securing bipartisan support for health care reform suggests that the Democratic Party has forgotten how to govern and the White House has forgotten how to lead."

I pray that the President will backtrack on his previous backtracking and support - at the very least - a robust public option in his Wednesday address to both houses of congress. 

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