Pussyfooting the President

“It is the fashion among many critics…to speak of the President as a well-meaning man who does not understand the implications of his policies, and who is being coaxed along a road that is destructive of the American System by clever associates who are dealing from the bottom of the pack.”

The above quote could have been written about President-Elect Barack Obama, criticized for his unsavory associates during the campaign, or President George W. Bush, who many suspected was not calling the shots in his administration. A quote from a June 24, 2007 Washington Post article said, “Cheney is not, by nearly every inside account, the shadow president of popular lore.”

No, this quote was taken from an editorial, “Pussyfooting About the President”, in June 20, 1936 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Some were quick to judge the FDR, stating that he is unaware of his own policies and is therefore being influenced by his associates. However, “We believe that the president knows exactly what he is doing, and that he has definite objectives in mind,” states the editorial.

FDR’s major plan in 1936 was to create “a new social order,” a form of recovery during the Great Depression. The majority of the criticism he received during his presidency was blamed on this new social order.

“The country as a whole would gladly go along with him for a steady improvement, a progressive betterment of social conditions, but implicit in his policy is the supplanting of fundamental American ideals of life, liberty and government by others that are alien to our soil.” These are the same criticisms facing Obama as he moves into office.