Obama will be FDR

The first presidential debate is tonight. If you aren’t seeing it with people, you are missing out on rowdy crowds in the great democratic state of New York. If you want somewhere to go click here.

Or go to this url: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2008/09/get_your_debate_on.html

Personally, I will be at the Tank tonight on 87 Lafayette street at 8pm getting ready for the first big brawl. Leading up to this election has been amazing, and becoming a part of the Manhattan Young Democrats has definitely been a huge part of the whole experience.

I’ve looked on with trepidation as the Republican party has made strides to even out the polls. I was broadsided when they chose Palin as VP. And of course I have been confused and confounded by the Republican leadership throughout. I was interested in why they would say “OK” to a campaign suspension. I think their thought here was that if they couldn’t beat Obama at his game, they would have to look like they were already running the White House. That way they could say “hope all you want with Obama, but we’re already playing the parts of pres and VP”.

So – After all the sweating and yelling and listening to speeches, I’m more than ready. I’m pumped and excited to see how they both come out swinging. Both sides have done their best to lower expectations for their candidate, which is a pretty natural thing to do, so that either way no one can really lose.

All the debate speculation aside I wanted to do a much grander prediction.

I think Obama is going to be the next FDR.

Our economy has just gotten blown up, and we need a catalyst for change. It strikes me as perfect timing for something like FDR’s New Deal. Without any money how can you make jobs? The same way FDR did it. You need a common cause to spur that revolution, and we’re coming directly into our very own green one. So bring on the green revolution which will echo our industrial one, and build America as a progressive nation once again.

Wikipedia says: Roosevelt’s “First 100 Days” concentrated on the first part of his strategy: immediate relief. From March 9 to June 16, 1933, he sent Congress a record number of bills, all of which passed easily.

That’s exactly what Obama’s intentions are. He’s coming in guns a-blazing, and will effectively break through the status quo. I know I should provide a hundred more examples here, but there just is no time right now.

When I was in high school I studied Erasmus and Luther for an entire semester. Erasmus was in charge of the counter-reformation that called for the church to change gradually. He was of the mindset that Catholicism could bend slowly from the inside, and eventually they would do what was right. Of course Luther thought differently, and posted the 95 theses on the door of the church thus creating Lutheranism. I’ve battled long and hard to figure out who was in the right. The major question being can we change things from within or do you have to make some kind of massive break in common ideology to get people going. After all this time I still do not have the perfect answer. I think change always occurs at times when people see the need for it. Large sweeping changes occur when it is deserved, and people want to get swept up in it. There are so many times when we have clung desperately to the status quo just because everything was generally fine. But in times like we are now seeing, I do believe there is a need to break away. I think there is a need to look at the world differently, and realize change is necessary immediately. Obama has become a hero in the eyes of our nation. We’ve been singing songs about him like he is a legend already. I’m glad to be part of the chorus who believe. I’m proud to be a part of the group who wants to create change.

It feels like we’re in that part of Transformers where Hot Rod picks up the matrix to light the Autobots darkest hour in the belly of Unicron. The Autobots being the Democrats, Hot Rod being Obama, and the matrix being the presidency.

He’s a symbol the same way FDR was a symbol. I’ll end it here with a quote from FDR that I think resonates with how Obama will run this country:

Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth… I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people… This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms.^[26]

My t-shirt of choice is by my favorite comic book artist in the world, Alex Ross’.