Did you know that FDR was attacked as being too close to Wall Street?

[ecstatic]

I saw this article and it provides a lot of perspective on the debate we're having today.

...it’s pretty remarkable how closely the attacks Roosevelt experienced from his left echo the attacks that liberals make against Obama today. There was criticism of Roosevelt for being too close to Wall Street, criticism of the New Deal’s pragmatism and non-ideological approach, criticism of the New Deal for not going nearly far enough, criticism of the New Deal and Roosevelt as preferring conservatism to liberalism, and so on.

...the relationship between Roosevelt and the liberals of his day was not as smooth or happy as many of you might have believed. The sort of adulation with which some liberals today treat Roosevelt has created the impression of him as a liberal superman. This could not be further from the truth, and this was especially the case beginning in late 1934.

...This notion that FDR was, despite his words, a conservative at heart was one that was echoed by other liberally-aligned critics as well. The Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (yes, they were called the STFU for short), said of Roosevelt that “too often the progressive word has been the clothing for a conservative act. Too often he has talked like a cropper and acted like a planter.” (McElvaine 262)

...My big takeaway from all this is that the current despair and disillusionment on the part of liberals is nothing new or unique. Being hyper-critical is something that appears to be hardwired into the genetic code of liberals. After all, if liberals were not even satisfied with the liberal superhero Franklin Roosevelt, we shouldn’t be surprised that liberals are so disappointed with Barack Obama. This is not to rag on liberal criticism. Rather, it is to point out that liberals today don’t have an antipathy that is specific to President Obama. As Eleanor Roosevelt wrote to Molly Dewson, “the ups and downs” in the feelings of liberals “are an old, old story”. And judging by the looks of things today, Eleanor Roosevelt’s words about the dissatisfaction of liberals, “I should think they might get over with it, but they never do”, ring truer than ever. We should not view the liberals of today as uniquely ungrateful in the arc of American political history, because the truth is that they are rather typical. Like Prince’s mother in the song “When Doves Cry”, they’re never satisfied. The sooner some of the president’s defenders realize that, the less they will despair over liberal criticisms of President Obama.

http://ukiahcommunityblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/12/liberal-criticism-of-franklin-roosevelt-and-the-new-deal/