Let’s start with the bad news: Jonathan Alter still has no inkling that FDR’s policies did nothing to end the Great Depression, despite having written a book on the topic:
Nationalization? Perish the word, not the thought. When Franklin
Roosevelt closed the banks in 1933, he festively called it a “bank
holiday,” and the bank receivers assigned to shutter some and take over
others were dubbed “conservers.” Obama and his message mavens still
haven’t found the language to frame their plans and lift our sights.
Alter also uses the phrase “accurate Keynesian economics,” which is oxymoronic (emphasis on the fourth through eighth letters of that word).
Here’s the good news: Alter dispenses with any notion that his article could be misconstrued as journalism. It’s a paean to Obama and his greatness:
So why do I still think Barack Obama has a good chance of restoring
confidence and pulling us back from the brink? Why do I figure Joe
Biden had it about right when he said in his inimitably indiscreet way
that their chances of failure were about 30 percent, which leaves a
healthy 70 percent chance of success?Because my take
on Obama, based on conversations with him and his team stretching back
more than four years and extending into the White House, is that he has a firm grasp of the psychological and substantive
challenges of the presidency. Equally important, his 2008 campaign
proved that he possesses a superior sense of timing.
Given Mr. Alter’s judgment of other matters, I’ll give his assessment of our new president the weight it deserves.
