Barack Obama - Political Heir to FDR

Playing off the movie “The Artist,” which won Best Picture at The Oscars Sunday, Raising Red Action Fund produced a parody trailer for “The Con Artist,” a movie starring President Barack Obama and nominated for “Worst Picture.” The Daily Caller

While watching this video the black & white production, visual effects, fill footage, music, and title cards reminded me of another era in history. The appearance of the Hindenberg aflame only enhanced the feel of the era -- that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Careful consideration led me to the conclusion that Barack Obama is, indeed, the heir to FDR.

As the video points out, Barack Obama's campaign website proudly proclaimed in 2008, "I will restore fiscal discipline" to Washington. In April 2008, he announced "I will reduce the price of oil." In February 2009, he claimed "I will cut the deficit by half."

Since his election, gas prices have skyrocketed, from a $2.07 nationwide average in November 2008 to $3.70 a gallon today. The national debt has exploded, reaching $15 trillion from $10.6 trillion in January 2009. And millions of Americans are suffering, not just from broken hearts, but from his broken promises.

Yet as Jack Cafferty is quoted, "Obama hasn't even made a token effort to keep his campaign promises."

The resemblance to Franklin Delano Roosevelt is uncanny. As we discussed in The Great Depression of 1920, economist Marriner Eccles had this to say about FDR's first election campaign. ¹

"given later developments, the campaign speeches often read like a giant misprint, in which Roosevelt and Hoover speak each other's lines. Roosevelt denounced Hoover's failures to restore prosperity or even halt the downward slide, and he ridiculed Hoover's huge deficits. Roosevelt campaigned on the Democratic platform advocating "immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating departments and bureaus, and eliminating extravagances" and for a "sound currency to be maintained at all hazards."

Campaigning on fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction, then throwing both out the window once he assumed office? That's pretty conclusive evidence that Barack Obama is FDR's political heir.

...and that's all I have to say about that.

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¹ It's worthy of note that this was not some sour grapes analysis of the Roosevelt campaign by his political opponents. Marriner Eccles was Chairman of the Federal Reserve under President Roosevelt, an architect of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and a Bretton Woods negotiator involved in the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.