It seems as if the Republican cry for bipartisanship during last years election carried as much weight as Chicken Little’s cry of “the sky is falling”. Since the President Obama’s inauguration Republicans have done whatever possible to make our new President’s job a difficult one. The GOP have now attempted to create a new history for America by saying President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was unsuccessful, and President Obama’s New Deal II will follow suit.
Paul Siegel writes on WatchBlog.com, “Republicans say FDR’s New Deal did not work and Obama’s New Deal will not work either.” Some political pundits are comparing Obama to FDR because they are following a Republican president who left the country in economic turmoil; and both increased the size of government and government spending to pull the nation out of crisis.
Siegel points out that Republicans such as Newt Gingrich, Rudolph Giuliani, Mark Sanford, Jon Kyl, and Mike Pence are getting the idea that the original New Deal failed from a book by Amity Shlaes called The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression. As the title suggests, it is a rewrite of history. As Siegel points out, “It presents an extremely biased view.”
The American people must have thought the New Deal was successful; having elected President Roosevelt for four terms. The country prospered for almost 50 years until its opponents began to slowly dismantle many of the social programs that the New Deal established until many had disappeared by the Regan and Bush Sr. administrations.
The New Deal established temporary job relief to those who lost jobs, created the Social Security system and relief for dependent families, helped farmers, regulated industry, and reformed the banking system. Mr. Siegel mentions, “My family lived through the Great Depression in a dilapidated tenement house with no heat. We just barely had enough to eat. My father could not find work. We were wondering how we would get along. Then Roosevelt established the Public Works Administration (PWA) and my father got a job. It wasn't a wonderful job and he did not like it very much - he was part of an army shoveling snow. But it kept our family of 7 - 2 parents, 4 kids and a grandma - a step away from starvation……Don't tell me and the many other poor people who were helped by FDR's programs that FDR's stimulus program did not work.”
President Roosevelt’s New Deal not only changed the economy; it changed the direction and history of the United States. We can only pray that President Obama is as successful. Hopefully, 80 years from now historians will truly be able to compare Barack Obama to the great Franklin Roosevelt; by comparing how they repaired America.
Republicans were too overwhelmed of receiving unnecessary funds for their non-beneficial programs contrary to the public's interest, that created this current economy and knew not to speak against the head man's plans of getting money and now their strategy is claiming to be peacemakers when truly they are the mischief makers.
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