Obama’s Steep Climb
Compounded by Racist Barbs….

The Job Ahead:

When you listen to the politicians talk about their positions and their platforms it is easy to get swept up by all that Obama has to not only surmount but, hopefully, accomplish in his first four years.

Not only does he have to attempt to change the dialogue away from racist jibes and “negativism,” but move forward to reverse the misguided judgments of the last eight years!

No easy task!

But as monumental as these challenges may appear, many may wonder whether a black man with no prior experience running a corporation or a country, can still make it happen.

This is the question for the ages.

We all want change. But how much change can we hope for during the next term?

Well, if a crippled man who could not walk on his own, who was regarded as a young elitist, thought he could change the world AND DID….why couldn’t a young talented man gifted with a keen mind and gifted tongue do the same?


FDR may provide the perfect example.

At the time of FDR, Congress was very strong as were the Justices; any new president would have to work hard to win their respect much less their support.. Nor did the Court take a back seat to anyone. Add to that, the public was dubious about what one spoiled rich politician, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and elitist tendencies could do for middle class America.. After all, Hoover had not made it happen….

And there was always the media to deal with. The media had it within its power to literally destroy a candidate.

All in all, it was not really a fertile climate for bringing about the change necessary to get America on a post-Depression footing.

At the time, FDR had been crippled by polio; he could not walk by himself, and to add to his problems, he was criticized as being an elitist.

At the time, there was also a groundswell of conservative and anti-expansionist fervor. Americans did not want to get involved in the affairs of others!....

But that did not discourage him….

Not in the least.

What did the crippled “elitest” do?

It did not take anyone long to see that FDR stood up for the people at a time when they were particularly vulnerable.

And the media took his side; recognizing that to do otherwise would have been suicide since the people had taken him to their hearts through his many speeches and public “eet and greets.”

In his time, FDR had accomplished the impossible in a very short time frame. He had won over the people--the doubters as well as the republican ideologues... and he had created an atmosphere that could make change possible; he had resurrected ‘hope’ the elixir that would make all things possible.

Think about what Roosevelt had on his plate then: The Depression, the Threat of War, the Loss of Jobs, The Failure of the Banks, The Dust Bowls of the West and Midwest, the rampant Dispair that existed.

A tall order for anyone to contemplate turning around.

But one man did.

One man who didn’t buy into the Republican rhetoric that all of the above was part of the capitalist cycle where time was the only solution.

Remember, not only did FDR have to face the opposition of the Republican conservatives, he also had to deal with the Nazi sympathizers and ‘isolationists’ who didn’t want us to help out our allies.

At the time, we had a peace-time army the size of Denmark.

We couldn’t fight if we wanted to.

But anyone taking the measure of the man could see that he was not going to let that stand in his way.

And with his inspired speeches, his hard work and the cooperation of the people—who understood that they needed to save themselves--- he was able to move heaven and earth.

Any student of history knows that Hoover had done absolutely nothing to improve the stock of the people believing that nothing could be done to address the myriad problems. Instead, he went fishing and tried to ignore the problem—ignore the plight of millions in typical republican ‘do nothing’ fashion. .

And he thought that FDR with his prying would only make things worse. He was so opposed to FDR’s attitudes, that even on the way to the White House for the official changeover he would not talk to FDR no matter how hard FDR tried to elicit conversation from him.

Cycles were part of life in a democracy, the conservatives believed.

Yet, FDR didn’t buy into any of that.

He took the bull by the horns. He didn’t have any secret formulas. He simply tried things. He was innovative. And he knew who to borrow from. It was his firm belief that it was the obligation of the president to try to find answers and by so doing, did; he found solutions that worked and got our people back to work and our economy through bold initiatives back on its feet. After all, it was Roosevelt who created the NRA; it was Roosevelt who developed the TVA. It was Roosevelt who created Lend Lease which enabled Britain to survive and allowed the Western Allies to eventually win and it was Roosevelt who built the strongest economy during a time of commitment and peril that was to eventually mark us as the world’s Super Power.

This came out of nothing other than conviction, hard-work and hope and a belief that America could accomplish the impossible.

Some of those ideas tracked back to Al Smith’s original run for the presidency, the first Catholic candidate for office.

But whatever their origins, the turn-around began in his first presidency but was not without its set backs.

By the time that the War started, Roosevelt had endured the ups and downs of an economy that had ground to a halt. He had survived a critical press. And he had survived the attempts of another Kennedy’s efforts to put someone else in the presidency—someone who would keep us out of the War.

It didn’t happen.

FDR came back and he came back to win.

But he never for a moment lost his resolve or forgot his commitment to the people.

It was not easy. It took time and it did not always work.

But by the time, FDR took the oath of office the third time, his country was well on its way to a level of prosperity not seen in years.

The point is that what awaits Obama is doable.

We were not in the dire situation faced by FDR in the height of a Depression where there was no jobs and no hope..

With hard work and sacrifice, we can erase the scars and fool-hardy decisions of the last eight years; the failure of our government to provide for its people, and through a mighty effort erase a predilection to be provocative to the rest of the world, erase a rigidity of mind that suggested that the Iraq War was justified, and that America’s economy was healthy when it was not, we can restore a belief that a woman’s rights should be adjudicated by government or that there should be no separation of church and state. And we can end invasion of privacy, preemption, and the inherent rights of citizenship enforced by our Constitution—which had been sadly set aside by those who could not see beyond special interests or blind capitalist ambitions.

What we are now seeing is a groundswell among the young cognizant of what could be and that, by itself, is literally overwhelming and compelling and a source of much pride.

The honest in government and business see it, too, and are inspired by the words of this new candidate who sees opportunity in a world that many of us see as going in the wrong direction.

Obama would do well to study the paragons of the past like FDR and Kennedy and Truman to reinvigorate our future with hope, common sense and the commitment America is known for.

It is up to us to make that hope possible…..

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon