Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Depression Versus Barack Obama’s Recession

As we shuffle through this deepening recession, pundits around the world are looking towards Franklin D. Roosevelt’s legacy in the White House. In a timely release, Roosevelt’s grandson just published his memoir–giving a glimpse into the life of a president who carried the country through the Great Depression.

Curtis Roosevelt (now 78-years-old) lived in the White House for 12 years, and recorded his experiences in the new memoir from Public Affairs, Too Close to the Sun. In a recent interview with the Daily Beast, he shrugged off comparisons between Barack Obama and his grandfather. It’s a literary look at economic policy:

“You can’t look at columns like Paul Krugman’s in The Times yesterday about Franklin Delano Obama and not see the new interest! Everyone is asking why doesn’t Obama simply emulate FDR? Why don’t we pick up and start a New Deal? Straight down the line, they have been comparing this recession with the Great Depression. The thing is, there is a substantial difference between now and then. Even Wall Street types were perfectly willing to give FDR dictatorial powers if he would cope with the financial crisis. Nobody’s mentioned that with Obama, and you won’t see it.”

(Via.)

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