In Just Ten Months
Dear UCubed Leader:
President Barack Obama is “likeable enough.” But is that the measure of any presidency? I think not.
Presidents are judged by what they did to address the crisis the country faced during their term of office. The classic contrasts are between Presidents James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln and Presidents Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Good intentions weren’t nearly good enough as the storm clouds of the Civil War gathered. Platitudes proved inadequate as the Great Depression deepened. Only the persistent application of presidential power would have made a difference. Unfortunately, that did not happen.
Inaction exacerbated those crises. Instead of being vexing yet manageable, the crises became so toxic they threatened the foundations of our Democracy. In each instance, a predecessor’s inability to avert or end the crisis drove his successor to take far more drastic actions.
Presidential elections served as inflection points. The American people fired Buchanan and Hoover because they did not DO enough. They hired Lincoln and Roosevelt to DO much, much more.
Not everything Lincoln and Roosevelt tried worked. But both men kept experimenting, pushing the envelope, searching for solutions. Even in the darkest days, most Americans felt their president was doing everything that could be done and then some.
In just ten months, 40 million voters from unemployed households will decided if President Obama has done enough to resolve this jobs crisis. With thumbs up, his re-election becomes a slam dunk. If they go thumbs down, no campaign stratagem can save him.
But ten months is a century in American politics.
In just ten months – from the shelling of Fort Sumter in April, 1861 until January, 1862 when the USS Monitor was launched – Lincoln recruited 527,000 troops to active duty.
In just ten months – from signing the bill creating the Works Progress Administration in April, 1935 until March, 1936 – Roosevelt put 3,400,000 Americans to work.
That’s why our Facebook ads say, “We did it once. Let’s do it now!”
In Unity – Strength,
Rick
Rick Sloan
UCubed Executive Director
www.unionofunemployed.com
RE: In just ten months – from signing the bill creating the Works Progress Administration in April, 1935 until March, 1936 – Roosevelt put 3,400,000 Americans to work.
He had a “bill” to sign…unlike the current apocalypse masquerading as congress.
But all in all you are correct, The Prez needs to DO more to bring about change.
Exactly, VT! We have got to kick Congress in the teeth if we have to. It’s business as usual to them all because they are not losing their homes, their kids college funds, cars, etc … all the bad that comes from having NO income! And for some people, hope has long left. WE WANT AND NEED WORK! I am 55, a secretary but I cannot live on minimum wage with a bad heart. Not just any kind of work but REAL work with REAL pay and REAL benefits. Congress can’t even get its act together to force banks to write down the mortgage debt so why do we think they can create anything like the WPA?! I have NO faith in those sitting now — NONE. If there are any ‘white hats’ in DC, they must be in a dress shop window. But I bet that store has gone out of business from lack of clientele!