John Nichols: Obama makes his FDR move

John Nichols  —  12/14/2008 7:50 am

There has been a great deal of talk since Election Day about how Barack Obama might be the next Franklin Roosevelt -- and, by extension, about the prospect that his presidency might offer America a new New Deal.

Some of the talk is rooted in circumstance: Like FDR, Obama is a Democrat elected by a wide margin with a supportive Congress in a time of economic instability.

Some of the talk is rooted in ideology: Like FDR, Obama comes from a background as an elected leader in an urban state. There, he came to see the value of government intervention not just to stimulate the economy but to promote economic and social justice.

Some of the talk is rooted in Obama's comment shortly after his election that he was reading Jonathan Alter's "FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope."

But talk, as we all know, does not necessarily amount to change we can believe in.

For presidents-elect to make their words practically meaningful, the right thing must be said at the right time.

Roosevelt had a knack for moving beyond platitudes to say that which needed to be said at the point when it needed to be heard. Ensuing presidents, with the exceptions of John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, have lacked the skill.

Obama seems to possess it.

Confronted last week with a press conference question about the sit-down strike organized by members of the United Electrical workers union that was under way at a Chicago window and door plant slated for closure, Obama did not mince words.

"When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right," said the president-elect. "What's happening to them is reflective of what's happening across this economy."

United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America Local 1110 members occupied the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago to demand fair treatment from a company that shut down operations after the Bank of America allegedly denied the firm operating credit. The 260 union members received support from members of Congress, labor leaders and Chicago's religious community. All argued that Bank of America -- the beneficiary of a $25 billion federal bailout -- needed to do more to help factories remain open and to assure that workers are not victimized. On Wednesday, a deal was reached on severance pay, vacation time and temporary health care benefits.

But the message from Obama, a Chicagoan with deep roots in the labor and activist communities there, was the most remarkable signal that this protest was a symbol of a broader struggle for economic fairness. Here was the president-elect explaining that it is "important for us to make sure that the plans and programs that we design aren't just targeted at maintaining the solvency of banks, but they are designed to get money out the doors and to help people on Main Street."

For the first time in the better part of 70 years, workers who took direct action to defend their economic rights got a measure of encouragement from a president who, like FDR, actually "gets it."

Obama is speaking the language of a new New Deal.

John Nichols is associate editor of The Capital Times, Wisconsin's progressive daily online news source, where his column appears regularly.

John Nichols  —  12/14/2008 7:50 am