Obama Is the New F.D.R.

“Within weeks of Mr. Obama’s election, Time magazine had imposed his image onto one of Franklin D. Roosevelt sitting in the back of his car, iconic cigarette holder jutting out from his grinning lips. The magazine’s headline declared the arrival of ‘The New, New Deal,’ referring primarily to the economic crisis that Obama inherited and was now responsible for ending. … The problem is, that FDR is the product of nostalgia. In reality (as is often the case with reality), things were a whole lot more complicated. In fact, FDR’s actual record raises criticisms very much akin to the posthype gripes about Obama.”