By Edwin Cooney
Yeh, the above, even as I write it, feels blasphemous to me too, but
today, January 30th, 2017, marks the 135th anniversary of FDR’s birth. As
such, it forces this observer to consider the past and the future in
“Rooseveltian” terms.
Many have considered FDR the father of 20th century enlightened
liberalism. There is much evidence to support that categorization of the
nation’s 32nd President. However, there are other factors about his character
and his administration that cast a doubt that FDR was an ideological liberal.
Of course, he was the perfect model for a 1930s liberal. Like
his fifth cousin Teddy Roosevelt, he was cheerful and unpredictable, possessing
a charm and a deviousness that if applied wisely, which they were much of the
time, were enchanting and politically effective. He surrounded himself in
his cabinet with social workers and progressive politicians. There was
Frances Perkins, the first women to be appointed to a president’s cabinet and
an advocate of government regulation of business and of pro-labor
legislation. Then there were Henry Wallace and Harold Ickes, Secretaries
of Agriculture and Interior respectively, who invariably favored government
advocacy and monitoring of programs and projects. As “liberal” as
Perkins, Wallace, and Ickes were, FDR was their supervisor and leader.
Although he never ran away from the label “liberal,” he often reminded everyone
that his real philosophy of government and administration was that when
something was wrong, or went wrong, try something else whatever anyone called
it.
It’s possible that President Trump’s early efforts to cut taxes,
deregulate environmental and other restrictions on domestic industry activities
and functions, repeal and replace ACA (otherwise known as the Affordable Care
Act or “Obamacare”), pull back from international trade agreements, re-arrange
NATO, build a wall between the United States and Mexico, and realign with
Russia will usher in a new era of expectations and actions equal to FDR’s New
Deal!
Should our newly minted chief executive be successful, there could
be a major realignment of political forces in this country so fundamental that
the traditional political evaluation table which measures left verses right may
become as obsolete as floor model radios and rotary telephones!
The truth may well be that, like FDR, DJT may ultimately be an era
opener. It may be a terrible era, but an era nonetheless. That’s
what has millions of Americans trembling in their canned political and social
doctrines. These two labels, largely children of the late industrial
revolution, are, like their disciples, invariably mortal!
I’ve found myself reacting to President Trump’s executive orders,
tweets, appointees, and temper tantrums very negatively. However, I find
that I’m almost equally tired of the complaints and prediction of failure on
the part of DJT’s critics. They’ve been assuring me since June of 2015
that Trump wouldn’t win political debates with his fellow Republicans, that
he’d lose in the primaries, that he had no chance to win the GOP nomination,
and that, even if he did all these, he would never be elected President of the
United States Of America. I, in turn, assured my readers and friends of
the exact same things - and here I am adjusting to cope realistically with
President Trump’s first ten days in office. Now, as stubborn as I can be
at times, after all one has to have confidence in one’s values and judgments,
the reality appears to be that a sea change of some major kind has taken place
in the American “Body Politic”! Embarrassed and frightened Democrats may
insist that DJT’s triumph is totally due to Hillary Clinton’s personality,
political character flaws and miscalculations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan
and Wisconsin, but I suspect that the Democratic Party malady runs deeper than
that. While that malady could be smoothed over should all the Trump
administration’s calculations and plans go awry, one party’s blunders don’t
alter the other party’s obtuseness!
As for a sea change, a sea change is a major social or economic
shift in conditions that alters socio/political outcomes in democratic
societies. These sea changes sometimes take a generation to
develop. Sometimes they take place suddenly after such crises as Sputnik
in 1957 when the Soviets beat us into space, or 9/11 which caused all of us to
feel vulnerable in a way not even equaled by any of the crises we experienced
during the “Cold War” with the Soviet Union.
It’s almost fitting that President Trump’s hundred days commence
around the 135th birthdate of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The two have
little in common except their wealth and their native home state of New
York. FDR was more highly educated; DJT possesses much greater business
experience and success. DJT appears, especially on domestic issues, to be
following rather than leading his party’s ideological leadership. FDR, on
the other hand, often encouraged his cabinet members to quarrel amongst
themselves so that he could glean from their differences the proper strategy or
solution to a problem.
FDR was supremely confident in his capacity to master the office he
occupied at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. DJT, on the
other hand, appears at this point not really secure in his presidency.
Were he really secure, his electoral vote, the cheers he received on
Inauguration Day, and the deference all about him on a daily basis would be
sufficient reassurances of his presidential legitimacy.
In the final analysis, a new era requires decisive leadership that
encompasses the equitable needs of the widest possible groups of constituents
in the “Great Republic.”
Is President Donald John Trump capable of creating and satisfying a
broad national constituency as was FDR?
As of this, the 11th day of President Trump’s administration, my
guess is that he can’t and won’t come close to FDR’s success. Unlike FDR,
he’s never had to struggle and thus compromise with illness. He lacks
FDR’s temperament and class. He lacks FDR’s sense of equity.
However, if he does succeed in the creation of a new era of peace, prosperity
and security, the initials DJT will stand prominently beside those famous
initials FDR!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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