The Roosevelts on PBS.. so much like the Obama administration

[Peacetrain]

I have been watching Ken Burns "The Roosevelts" and how much the right , middle and far edges reacted to Roosevelt and how much it resembles what happened to President Obama.. just floored me..

All the things we now think went through with great speed.. was whittled in bit by bit (aka Social Security) in order to get it all through..

If you get a chance.. it repeats at 9PM CST ..

[GoCubsGo]

1. I have been noticing the same thing.

"Socialist! Socialist! Blahblahblah!" Some things never change, sadly.

[Peacetrain]

4. Exactly!!

[femmocrat]

15. Yes, I even heard "class warfare"!!! LOL

And Congress often blocked his plans.

Teddy's family were pretty nasty, weren't they!

[Peacetrain]

95. That is what I have been so shocked by

The reaction of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts.. wow..

[Blanks]

101. ...and the Supreme Court blocked his programs. eom

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Or, it's déjà vu all over again. Roosevelt was accused of being a dictator and a socialist. Sound familiar?

[Peacetrain]

3. I am listening to it right now.. and it sounds like

something in our newspaper last week.. amazing

[bornskeptic]

16. And the left was calling him a corporate tool. n/t

[malaise]

5. Was thinking the same thing

I'm really enjoying this

[Peacetrain]

6. I am going to listen to the first hour again

Its just amazing

[malaise]

7. They show it again early in the morning

I've watched all the episodes

[Peacetrain]

9. Here they area repeating each episode twice one right after the other

I have seen everything so far..

[GoCubsGo]

102. And, if you watch on broadcast TV (as opposed to cable/satellite)...

Each episode is pretty much available for 24 hours. My PBS has 3 channels. On the main station, each runs at least twice, and then later on during the night. And, the third channel, they re-run it several times, as well. I have been able to watch what I missed due to interruptions or from falling asleep.

[The Blue Flower]

81. You can stream them all on pbs.org

I have poor reception (antenna, no cable), so that's what I'm doing.

[DrDan]

8. one MAJOR difference, however . . . .

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

10. Roosevelt had a Democratic House and Senate.

Among other things. Like the fact that he was a rich white guy (though considered by some other rich white guys to be a traitor to his class).

[TheNutcracker]

22. So did Obama when he got started. And four dem senators killed the jobs bill.

Me think congressional elections are sooooo much more important.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

37. I just hope that message is getting out to enough people...especially the people that

Turned red states purple over the last decade or so.

We really need them in November.

[SharonAnn]

49. There were plenty of conservative Democrats who gave him fits. Dixiecrats ruled!

[Art_from_Ark]

60. And yet, his greatest ally in the Senate

was probably Joseph T. Robinson, from Arkansas.
On the other side of the coin, one of the biggest Demoratic critics of the New Deal in the Senate was Carter Glass, from Virginia.

[littlemissmartypants]

11. No you di n! eom

[Octafish]

12. Win.

And there've been ample opportunities.

[woo me with science]

77. Indeed. nt

[Capt. Obvious]

88. Obama isn't handicapped

and he doesn't have to face the rampant ableism that FDR had to overcome.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. I do wish they weren't using that pompous, tiresome twit George Will...

but I suppose they figured they had to have a GOPer commentator lest they be accused of a liberal slant. George Will makes me want to

[Peacetrain]

14. Yep.. I know what you mean

[hopemountain]

26. a toupee or implants?

can't stand his arrogance, either.

[Stellar]

70. eeeewww, George Will turns my stomach too.

Every time they show him, I'd wonder what part of his narrative is he lying about.

[steve2470]

83. yes I think they put him in for "balance"

Will barely conceals his disdain for FDR.

[ProfessorGAC]

84. You And Me Both

Everytime i saw that guy in Burns' "Baseball" i wanted to hit FF on the remote. He's a pompous jerk.

[GoCubsGo]

103. I can't stand that smug POS.

Burns used him in "Baseball", too, which kind of ruined that one for me. Should've used Olbermann, as he did in "The 10th Inning."

[FlatStanley]

17. Of course the primary difference being that Roosevelt proposed liberal legislation

[NRaleighLiberal]

18. It is just a brilliant watch - a truly remarkable man - and woman (Eleanor is no less impressive)

[sufrommich]

82. I agree.Second only to his Civil War series. nt

[madinmaryland]

19. I see very little comparison between the two...

President Roosevelt had all of the connections to get into office, including have a cousin who had been President before him. And President Roosevelt (both of them) were never called a Kenyan Muslim.

BTW, it is a really good show about the Roosevelt family.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. Watch "A Face In The Crowd" from 1957....

Andy Griffith as a bad guy.

He's a Glenn Beck type who gets a show where he's a simple country boy but behind the scenes he's a manipulative selfish con man.

He's approached by some obvious Republicans to promote their guy who says things like, "Americans have gotten soft. We built this country by heading into the woods with an ax and now have all of this welfare and social security and unemployment insurance. America needs big men, not big government."

To which the character played by Walter Matthau says, "At least he has the courage of his ignorance."

[DawgHouse]

93. This is a fantastic movie, one of my favorites! nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

96. It's quite a window in how things haven't changed that much....

Have you seen "Mister Blandings Builds His Dream House"?

It's 1948. Just three years after the end of WWII.

At one point he caries the wife over the threshold, ignores a sign and goes right into the living room where a worker is varnishing the floor.

Worker: "Why don't you look where you're going! Can't you see I'm varnishing this floor?"

Mr. Blandings (With his wife still in his arms): "Stop painting that floor and put some planks down in here or something!"

Worker: "Okay, Mac, Okay, But take it easy. The Republicans ain't in yet, you know!"

http://www.doctormacro.com/Images/Grant,%20Cary/Annex/NRFPT/Annex%20-%20Grant,%20Cary%20%28Mr.%20Blandings%20Builds%20His%20Dream%20House%29_NRFPT_01.jpg

[DawgHouse]

110. No, I have not seen that one.

In fact, I haven't heard of it. I will add to my list of old movies to watch!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

111. It's got some GREAT lines...

Old house shingles fall off when their friend sees the dump they bought.

Friend: "What did your engineer say when he looked at the foundation and that roof?"

Mr. Blandings: "I don't need an engineer, it's not a train."

Friend: "I just saw it move."

[WillyT]

21. LOL...

[Le Taz Hot]

67. Yeah, the only similarities I see is that

both had a "D" next to their name but that's where the similarities end. Roosevelt "welcomed their hatred" (the 1%) while Obama works for them,

[ReRe]

23. Dayam...

... I missed tonight's edition. In my area, it's not repeated on the overnight. I live in a red state, so they show it once and that's it.

[BuelahWitch]

28. PBS is streaming the whole series till September 28.

I don't have TV but was able to watch it there. Go to pbs.org and you can find the link.

[ReRe]

33. I love you... will do that right now!

[BuelahWitch]

35. Happy to oblige!

The FDR/Eleanor episodes are not to be missed!

[ReRe]

51. OK... I'm back

Thank you for leading me to the site. I wasn't aware that they would be showing it online at the same time it was showing on TV. I hope PO has been able to watch the series thus far.

A little story for you told to me by my Mother in her last years on this earth: My grandfather was a big Republican organizer in the midwest town/county where Mummy was raised (rural Indiana.) Mummy played the trumpet and was in the Rebublican youths "bugle corps" (brass band.) The day before election day in Nov 1935, they all bussed to Indianapolis to be in a big pre-election day parade. It was raining cats and dogs that day, but that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of either side of the political divide. As Mummy was marching along (on the outside line, next to the crowd on her side of the street) she said she heard some men holler" "It'll be a cold day in Hell before FDR is elected again!" The next day, FDR was reelected again, the temperature dropped the night before and the rain from the day before had frozen into and sheet of ice, and there was a blizzard all day, to boot. Mummy died a staunch Democrat.

[book_worm]

24. My biggest complaint about Obama vs. FDR is...

that unlike FDR Obama doesn't use the bully pulpit of the presidency to sway public opinion. He seems afraid of the press because he rarely holds press conferences (FDR had 998 during his presidency). He seems reluctant to give presidential addresses. I think Obama has done a lot of good things but a lot of people don't know about them or they just get the constant GOP side of things.

[mehrrh]

29. speeches

Your point is taken, but media coverage was far different in the 30's when Franklin Roosevelt was in office.
Newspapers and radio speeches were absolutely necessary for public information.
Today, the newspapers are owned by the same people who own the radio and TV channels -- and they are in an echo chamber for the most part. Social media is the source of much information, and so much of it is uninformed, or incomplete, or deliberate disinformation and/or propaganda.
The bully pulpit isn't the same as it once was -- even the historians suggested that Teddy Roosevelt could never have made it in today's political world.

[BuelahWitch]

32. Do you forget his first inauguration?

There were hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people who would have gone to hell and back for President Obama. They would have overrun the astro turf Tea Party Terrorists if he'd asked them to. He had so much power, so many people behind him and he just let it go.

[heaven05]

65. BS

[BuelahWitch]

68. What a well thought out reply to my posting!

I don't think I've ever seen such a thoughtful, articulate reply in my 11 years here!
Are you saying that all those people cheering for him did not support him? THAT's BS!

[ProfessorGAC]

85. That Is An Exaggerration So Absurd. . .

. . .no rational response can be rendered.

[BuelahWitch]

91. He could have mobilized public support for anything

You don't want to admit it, but you know it's true. The administration dropped the ball big time, or maybe they didn't intend to use it in the first place.
I guess it's just easier to think of him as helpless and weak with everyone against him. The weakest part was thinking the Republicans were going to play nice.
Hopefully he'll get a nice, kooshie job from the Carlyle Group in 2017 for enduring 8 years of humiliation.

[ProfessorGAC]

98. Wrong

More hyperbole without a basis in fact.

Not one president out of 44 had that power. Never have and the constitution was written so that would be the case.

You know that, but your vitriol is interfering with your ability to deal with facts.

[BuelahWitch]

99. You know I'm talking about the Bully Pulpit, but you just try and twist my words

to make them sound like something else. Presidents use it all the time to drum up support for one thing or another. You are obtuse and insincere.
Your side's constant bleating that the President has no power, never had any power does his potential legacy no favors (since he can't be re-elected, that's all that matters at this point).
I think it's about time to trash this delusional thread and the delusional people in it.

[Major Hogwash]

52. Obama could hold a press conference every single day, but nothing would change what is going on now.

The Republicans control the House of Representatives, yet they aren't even conducting the serious business of the federal government!
So, having dozens of mere press conferences isn't going to be successful.

We only have 46 days until the mid-term elections are held to change that.

[mehrrh]

25. Roosevelt and Obama

Like others here, I have been struck by the similarities between the FDR administration and that of Barack Obama.
I suppose I knew enough of history so that this shouldn't have been surprising, but nonetheless, seeing it in film, so fully narrated and totally engrossing, I made the comment several times during the past evenings, that some things haven't changed at all -- this is history repeating itself -- I see so much alike between the two administrations -- (and the politics and the Congress!).

[TheNutcracker]

27. Roosevelt would roll over in grave, if he knew Obama put Soc Sec on table for CatFood Committe

[CBHagman]

30. Right down to the accusations about "class warfare" and excessive caution...

..and a supposed inability to bring about real change. And FDR observed that he had to work with the Congress he had, which would not pass anti-lynching legislation. I am relieved that Ken Burns has not shied away from the grimmer aspects of the story. People on all points of the political spectrum have been known to idealize the past, and I find even those from the right wing ready to praise figures safely dead (FDR, Truman, Martin Luther King) while denouncing today's civil rights activists.

So watch the series with your family/friends. Absorb. Discuss. It's inspiring, but at times unsettling as well.

It definitely made me wish I could chat with a totally unguarded FDR -- not that that would have been possible for most people.

[url]http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/films/the-roosevelts[/url]

[kentuck]

31. Although some of it was very difficult to watch...

Especially the poverty of the coal miners. It reminded me of my Grandpa and Grandma and my Mom, who was born in 1929 and who was only 6 months old when the stock market crashed.

FDR gave them hope. It was easy to see why he was hated by the "economic royalists". And he welcomed their hate.

Yes, I think there were similarities between he and Obama but there were differences. There were safeguards for the people under Obama, such as FDIC, unemployment insurance, and Social Security, that were put there by FDR. There was never the degree of hopelessness because of the safety net created by the New Deal. Otherwise, it could have been very, very similar.

[Mira]

34. I kept wondering,

And hoping that our President is watching.

[Number23]

36. I've made that same point about a hundred times

And each time some person comes flying out of left field (literally) to tell me how wrong I am and how it's all Obama's fault for being a crypto-fascist Republican lite.

Which was, of course, the EXACT same idiotic tripe that FDR had to contend with on a regular basis.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

40. that type of criticism always seems unfortunately literal-minded to me.

The slings and arrows that come out when macro-comparisons are made (ie comparisons of overarching similarities and patterns) usually seem based on micro-analyses of details. I don't think that's a valid correlation.

[Number23]

58. "usually seem based on micro-analyses of details." That's interesting but to be honest

I think they are far more likely to be based on ignorance than over analysis.

Most of the ones that sound the most like FDR's far left critics are also the ones with the most ridiculous, almost deranged sounding rhetoric concerning moderates. And I've found few extremists that have a real clue about anything let alone the issues they are braying the most loudly about.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

72. lol...I think you said it better than me.

I got tangled up in my love of big words....
When I was saying "micro-analysis", I was thinking of all the one-note screaming...or, "braying". Yes, that.

[BuelahWitch]

38. This is what FDR accomplished in his first 100 days in office

http://aphdigital.org/projects/firsthundreddays/?page_id=382

What did Obama do in his first 100? Give the banks another bailout and allow several Bush appointees to keep their jobs.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

41. I do believe those bank bailouts were *arranged* under bewsh

PBO couldn't do much, --it was a done deal...blank check, no collateral. I'm pretty certain I remember PBO making his displeasure at the thieves public.

But then, there's our media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch /Murdoch/Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal industries, (bin Talal owns a 7 percent stake in News Corp -- the parent company of Fox), which hasn't had a very good record of reporting on PBO or ANY democrat who does something good for US.

[heaven05]

66. thank you

for setting the record straight for...........

[BlancheSplanchnik]

73. :)

Thanks!

[brentspeak]

39. Spare us, please

FDR was a true poor/middle class populist. Obama is a true Wall Street populist.

[malaise]

62. But the left in FDR's time also accused him of being

a Wall Street tool. There are parallels with the introduction of both Social Security and Obamacare.

[LeftyMom]

42. What color is the sky on your planet?

[jwirr]

43. As I watched tonight I kept thinking nothing has changed. I also hope that this is rerun later in

the season. It is one hell of a learning tool.

[Peacetrain]

78. Me too.. I should have copied it ..

When it reruns I most definitely will

[YOHABLO]

44. Obama is no FDR!

[KittyWampus]

45. The same DU'ers who attack Obamacare today would have attacked Social Security >>>

because when Social Security first passed it didn't cover all Americans.

[woo me with science]

75. Actually, the president is the one attacking Social Security.

It's still on the table, remember?

And putting it there, over and over again, was a great gift to the banks. It ushered in all kinds of delicious austerity!

[markpkessinger]

105. How soon they forget! n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

87. Yep. Exactly. eom

[Zorro]

46. I wonder when the Republicans will start attacking PBS and Ken Burns

for showing this series so close to the election.

[eissa]

47. A socialist, traitorous dictator

who encouraged class warfare, and harbored communist sympathies. So hated by his critics that they couldn't even say his name.

On the left, protests that he didn't go far enough with his progressive agenda, and compromised too much.

Amazing how history repeats itself.

[Amonester]

48. Except for the right-wing owned MEDIA was not present INSIDE every living room...

spewing their hate 24/7 on almost all so-called "news" channels... calling him a dictator or worse every minute...

One of the thing that I liked the most in that episode was FDR's AM-radio chats to millions of ordinary people who loved him for working for them, a luxury PBO can't have in this age of a thousand different channels... which most people only skim through (when they do...).

That's perhaps the biggest difference between then and now.

[AZ Progressive]

53. The "Economic Royalists" of today think they have succeeded where their predecessors failed

And that is suppressing the opposition from even having a chance to defy them. I wonder how many of them were warned by their parents to never let a Theodore or Franklin D to ever get in the White House again.

[Amonester]

56. That's what they did through buying out all those media outlets, and...

creating thousands of new means for dividing the targeted audiences.

It was all part of their plans.

[ChiciB1]

50. Noticed It... But The People Of Today

are much to apathetic about voting, more materialistic and don't seem to understand or care to be involved. Too much apathy, but it SHOULD be watched by everyone!

Wish I could afford to buy the series, think it's almost the BEST Ken Burns has done. The 2 hours go by so fast and I want more. And I'll want even more because I'm sure so much was left out.

Can anyone suggest what is the BEST book to buy about him? Which author, etc. If I can't buy series maybe I can get a book. I have so many on other politicians, how I never purchased one on the Roosevelts is a huge failure on my part.

And as I posted at another thread, I learned that the crash happened on the same month and day of my birth, as it was with Paul Wellstone. He died on October 25th! Think I'm going to change my birth certificate??? Not a good day in history.

[eissa]

80. The series is based on this book

http://smile.amazon.com/Roosevelts-Intimate-Geoffrey-C-Ward/dp/0307700232/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1411141042&sr=1-1&keywords=the+roosevelts+an+intimate+history

Just added it to my Christmas wish list!

[ChiciB1]

107. Thanks For This Information...

Just finished watching #6 and checking for biographies. Came here and glad to see this. This has had such an emotional impact on me. I've known about his accomplishments and "the Mrs." too, but this documentary has brought it to life for me.

Tomorrow is the last, and the sad ending.

[TwilightGardener]

54. Off topic, but why hasn't Ken Burns addressed Vietnam?

Or if he did, did I miss it? I would like to see that.

[NCarolinawoman]

106. I think he said that Vietnam will be next. On one of the talk shows.

I lost a boyfriend in that war. His name is on the wall. I don't think I will be able to watch. That war was so pointless from the beginning and that Agent Orange!

[Corey_Baker08]

55. My Thought Exactly...Except Democrats Actually Stood By FDR...

why does it seem that now on the news and even here on DU there is so much Obama hate. President Obama warned us that this wouldn't be easy, and the reforms we seek will not come without a fight, but he promised to always listen to us ECSPECIALLY when we disagree on issues. His approval numbers are extremely surprising, how is it that his approval numbers are near George W Bush's at this time during his presidency...

Republicans were united the way the Democrats need to be in this election! Yea I may not agree with everything decision or policy President Obama has made, but at the end of the day he is still my President, and This is still Our Democratic partyt.

[Amonester]

57. The right-wing OWN most mass-media outlets.

And they use them 24/7 to attack this President like no other before him.

They did not have such access to the general public in the 1930's...

[Warpy]

59. That firebreathing liberal George Will is admitting that Roosevelt's programs ended prematurely

He's blaming Roosevelt for what Congress did, try to balance the budget in 1936.

That's what ushered in the Great Recession of 1937, much of the misery of the Depression returning for a second act.

Conservatives are always the problem. They can never be any sort of a solution.

[Sognefjord]

61. I have read quite a lot on the Roosevelts

but the writers surprised me with a lot of new facts in this series I had never come across before. Fascinating. The work of Louis Howe for instance. I thought I knew a bit more about Harry Hopkins than I actually did. This series bears repeated watching and should be shown in history classes (high school senior or college level).

[pampango]

63. Doris Kearns Goodwin on FDR tonight: "He was an internationalist in an isolationist age."

He tried to tell people how events in Europe and Asia were relevant and important but had little success until Japan brought the war to us.

[Shankapotomus]

64. More like Pres. Obama is treated like he is FDR

by Republicans out of their usual demagoguery. But he has a way to go for those kinds of changes.

[Romulox]

69. Obama has not offered any "New Deal". That's the glaring contrast. nt

[woo me with science]

74. Well, he offered some great deals to the Banks.

He twisted some arms to get those settlements!

Austerity was a great deal for them!

And making most of the Bush tax cuts permanent....That was the icing on the FDR cake!

Cutting food stamps....yeah, baby!

And how 'bout a farm bill based on PENSION SMOOTHING!

[woo me with science]

76. [phone] My, the telescreens are blaring "2+2=5!"

and "The chocolate ration has been increased!"

[woo me with science]

71. *Especially* the part where FDR lectured the desperate people to eat their peas

Last edited Fri Sep 19, 2014, 11:23 AM - Edit history (1)

/


[font size=3][font color=green]

*Especially* the part where FDR lectured the desperate people to eat their peas and accept more austerity. *And* took the side of the Big Banks on virtually every issue that mattered to them!

War is Peace!

[/font size][/font color]

The record shows aggressive, proactive pursuit of a corporate agenda.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3202395

CUT THE CRAP! Your Month in Review from the most "progressive" administration ever.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025006297

Poll: Half of Americans dont care which party controls Congress
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024988821

When the DLC connections to the Koch Bros. became well known, they just rebranded the infiltration
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4165556

When you hear "Third Way", think INVESTMENT BANKERS
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024127432

GOP Donors and K Street Fuel Third Way’s Advice for the Democratic Party
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101680116

The Rightwing Koch Brothers fund the DLC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x498414

Same companies behind the GOP are behind the DLC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1481121

[oldandhappy]

79. I have learned a lot.

Did not know R had to endure so much hate. The hate for O has shattered me -- not just re politics but in terms of humanity.

[DrewFlorida]

86. I've been watching it too, and have had similar thoughts!

[liberal N proud]

89. The similarities to today are stunning

[DawgHouse]

94. I am enjoying this documentary, too.

I also see the parallels, particularly in the people who criticized FDR.

[99Forever]

97. Comparing Obama with FDR?

I'll refrain from speaking about that.

[TheNutcracker]

100. Agree. Roosevelt would rollover if he knew Obama put Soc Sec on table for Cat Food Committee

formerly called Simpson Bowles.

[GoCubsGo]

104. And, tonight we have the bitching about the First Lady's travel.

Never mind that she was off helping wounded soldiers.

[ChiciB1]

108. Amazing, Heard This Stuff About Michelle

for years now. Oh, that we Democrats could unify and show the Repukes some reality!

[Peacetrain]

109. My thoughts exactly...