Barack Obama, FDR and the Hundred Days: Join the Washington Book Club Discussion

January 23, 2009 RSS Feed Print
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By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

For the launch of our new "Washington Book Club" feature, in our brand, spanking new weekly digital edition, I chatted with Adam Cohen, a member of the New York Times editorial board and author of the fascinating new history Nothing to Fear: FDR's Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America. We talked about the lessons Barack Obama, his aides and the rest of us can draw from those historic months; and he has some interesting stuff to say about the comparisons between FDR and BHO.

You can read the piece here as part of our free digital edition preview package—I hope you'll subscribe.

And after you've given it a gander, come back here and join the book discussion below in the comment space—weigh in with your take on Cohen's conclusions about FDR, the Hundred Days, and lessons Obama can learn.

Tags:
Obama administration,
Barack Obama

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Yes it is true we do need another NEW DEAL,FDR was a great man for the people of our country and for international relations as well but he also had a" Braintrust " a groupe of economists and social thinkers who [planned all those improvements Like the NRA,the CCC and many many others including stabilising and regulating our banks who have too much freedom and power....money has to be shared and moved around not stuck in great corporations and financial institutions...too much of the money in the western countries is sitting in Islamic banks...Labor should have the right to strike for regress of their complaints again...we have to bring back economic freedom to our economy and get rid of fascist cartels and Trusts that work against free enterprise and competition.....we are going downhill and we will not be able to go ahead untill we get rid of undemocratic money policys......

Steve Roisman of CA 4:03PM January 26, 2009

Lesson no.1: Government financing of social programs and infrastructure projects underwritten by additional debt will have very little short term and zero long term mitigating effect on the current economic depression. The depression will remain with us until such time as this nation is able to once again manufacture products it is able to sell for a profit.

Richard W. Teasdale of UT 2:46PM January 24, 2009

Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger

Robert Schlesinger is managing editor for opinion at U.S. News and World Report, overseeing all opinion editorial content. He is the author of "White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters." E-mail him at rschlesinger@usnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @rschles.

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