I’m not one of those Americans who wants to change the name of French fries to Freedom fries any time a foreigner offers an opinion of or says something critical of the United States. That is why I am a fan of the Economist.
This week the Economist includes an opinion piece about President Barack Obama. My favorite quotation: ”He has been curiously ill-served by a press short of useful criticism, with liberal America prepared only to debate what sort of water he walks on best, while conservative radio hosts argue over when exactly he became a communist.” I can come up with no sentence that better captures the left-right media divide – and the utter uselessness of their chatter – better.
Meanwhile, notes the Economist, President Obama is losing the support of independent voters, who are concerned about federal spending, and needs to show leadership on important issues like health care and environmental reform. ”Back in the honeymoon days,” says the Economist, “Mr. Obama was constantly compared to Roosevelt. No longer.”
I recently had an opportunity to read FDR’s fireside chats. FDR would talk directly to the American people about important issues in plain, easy to understand, but not condescending, language. I think President Obama needs to do more of this. It’s harder now, with so many media competing for our limited attentions, but he needs to make a conscientious effort to reach us.
In closing, some interesting words from FDR to ponder:
- On stimulus spending: “It is going to cost something to get out of this recession this way but the profit of getting out of it will pay for the cost several times over. Lost working time is lost money. Every day that a workman is unemployed, or a machine is unused, or a business organization is marking time, it is a loss to the Nation.” 14 April 1938.
- On health care: “Whether we come to this form of insurance soon or later on, I am confident that we can devise a system which will enhance and not hinder the remarkable progress which has been made and is being made in practice of the professions of medicine and surgery in the United States.” 14 November 1936.
- On the environment: “If, for example, in some local area the water table continues to drop and the topsoil to blow away, the land values will disappear with the water and the soil. People on the farms will drift into the nearby cities; the cities will have no farm trade and the workers in the city factories and stores will have no jobs. Property values in the cities will decline. If, on the other hand, the farms within that area remain as farms with better water supply and no erosion, the farm population will stay on the land and prosper and the nearby cities will prosper too. Property values will increase instead of disappearing.” 6 September 1936.
