Franklin D. Roosevelt

Foreign Policy Rears Its Ugly Head For Joe Biden

Ronald Leave a comment

Every President enters office wishing to deal with domestic policy and change.

But invariably, foreign policy rears its ugly head much too often!

Woodrow Wilson came to office in 1913, not expecting the First World War I to break out in 1914, and bring us into that war in 1917.

Franklin D. Roosevelt came to office in 1933, wishing to deal with the Great Depression, but also had to deal with the growing Fascist threat of Japan, Nazi Germany, and Fascist Italy, and eventually, entrance into World War II!

Harry Truman came to office in 1945 to end World War II, but had to deal with the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and send troops to Korea.

John F. Kennedy came to office in 1961, and had to deal with the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

Lyndon B. Johnson came to office in 1963, wanting to promote the Great Society, but also had to deal with the Vietnam War.

Every other President in modern times has had to face similar issues, and now, Joe Biden must deal with China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran as major headaches, as he tries to resolve the COVID 19 Pandemic Crisis!

The American Rescue Plan Act Of 2021 Hearkening Back To Strong Actions Of FDR And The New Deal!

Ronald Leave a comment

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is seen by many observers as hearkening back to the strong actions of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal nine decades ago.

For sure, the present COVID 19 Pandemic and the economic collapse that has occurred due to this crisis, has created the most dangerous and worrisome moment in American government since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Before this, the Great Recession of 2008-2009 was the worst economic moment, with Barack Obama accomplishing the greatest economic revival over his eight years, that we have seen in American history.

But now, his Vice President, Joe Biden, is moving ahead to promote structural changes in the American economy and work to promote a major attack on poverty, unseen since the Great Society War On Poverty of Lyndon B. Johnson, six decades ago!

Joe Biden Perceived By Many Observers As Potentially Transformational, As Was FDR And LBJ

Ronald Leave a comment

It may be hype, but many political observers, impressed with President Joe Biden’s fast start in his first 50 days, are speculating that the 46th President could be a transformational President, in the mold of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

One such viewpoint is expressed by NY Times Columnist David Brooks, who is a conservative, but sees elements in Joe Biden to unite the nation, as has occurred with the just signed COVID 19 $1.9 Trillion legislation today, which is seen as a law that will have a great effect on taking many people, including children, out of poverty, along with essential aid to small businesses, state and local governments, and the rapid availability, now said to be on May 1, of COVID 19 vaccine for all adults.

Joe Biden has surprised many in his ability to draw Republican registered voters to be totally supportive of assistance this legislation provides, even as Republicans in Congress refused to support the legislation, but are already claiming credit for some of the programs and aid being distributed rapidly, starting this weekend.

There certainly is great optimism, on this anniversary of the declaration of the COVID 19 Pandemic a year ago today, after the horrible loss of 525,000 Americans, the greatest loss in one year in American history!

Time To Raise The Federal Minimum Wage To $15 In Stages By 2025!

Ronald Leave a comment

The last federal minimum wage increase occurred in 2009 during the first year of the Obama Presidency.

That minimum wage was $7.25, and yet, 12 years later, there are those who oppose an increase after more than a decade.

It is true that many states have a higher minimum wage, but it is more than past due to raise the federally mandated minimum wage in stages to $15 by 2025.

It is not as if there is a call for an immediate jump, but over four years, it is not too much to demand!

There are millions of low paid wage earners who cannot support themselves, and if the minimum wage had been based on the cost of living since its inception in 1938 under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the minimum wage now would be $24!

So the Democrats need to push through this legislation, maybe separately from the COVID 19 Pandemic legislation, with or without much Republican support!

One Month Anniversary Of The Biden Presidency: Tremendous Initiatives And Goals And Early Success!

Ronald 2 Comments

It is today one month since Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States, and there is a sense of great optimism.

The basic decency, compassion, empathy of Joe Biden is very evident, and he has staked out goals in foreign policy and domestic policy, canceling out most of the damage done by Donald Trump in his horrendous four years in office.

Biden has embraced NATO and our democratic allies in Asia;

has made clear that America will hold authoritarian governments around the world accountable for their outrageous violations of basic freedoms;

has selected an exceptional group of Cabinet and other advisors to deal with the myriad of issues he faces, greater than anyone since Franklin D. Roosevelt nine decades ago;

has committed himself to the fight against climate change;

has dedicated himself to the need for immigration reform, and to protect DACA recipients who have been living in uncertainty for the past five years;

has worked to promote the environment and conservation after the worst environmental record of any American President;

has been moving forward on a major economic relief bill;

has surpassed his goal of daily vaccinations against COVID 19 and made it a national commitment, not just left up to states alone;

has made the fight for civil liberties, civil rights, and the struggle against racism, nativism, misogyny a major commitment;

has endorsed full protection for the gay and lesbian community;

and above all, has restored the dignity and prestige of the American Presidency which was in rapid decline.

Joe Biden may not be able to accomplish everything he wishes, due to political realities, but his heart is in the right place, and he clearly is out to promote progressive goals and work against domestic terrorist groups which endanger American democracy.

No Donald Trump Highway, Library, Holiday, Or Any Other Honor!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Crazy season has begun, now that Authoritarian Fascist Donald Trump, who provoked the US Capitol Insurrection on January 6, 2021, is thankfully out of office, and not the constant news item he was five plus years after he announced his Presidential campaign in June 2015.

So now in Florida there is a proposal to name the US 27 Highway, Donald Trump Highway, and to have a Donald Trump Presidential Library in Palm Beach County, where Mar A Lago, his resort, is located.

Also, in Ohio, there is a proposal to make Trump’s Birthday, June 14, which is already Flag Day, a state holiday in his honor.

All of these preposterous ideas should be vetoed, and a Presidential Library and Museum for a criminal, responsible for promoting so much harm and damage, is an outrage!

Any documented material of the Donald Trump Presidency should be owned by the US Government, and none of it should be made available in any way, particularly national security matters, to the former President or his family members!

We need the truth, the unvarnished truth about this monster, to come out, not a landmark established to “worship” him as if he was a God!

One must understand, it is one thing to name places, buildings, holidays, after our greatest public leaders, so to have honors for George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, and others is fine.

But do we name places, buildings, holidays after Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, or Richard Nixon?

The answer is obvious!

Mitch McConnell Has Conceded Democrats Control Senate With 50-50 Tie, A Major Step Forward!

Ronald Leave a comment

After five days with a stalemate in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell has conceded that the Democrats and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer control the Senate with a 50-50 tie, allowing the opportunity for progress, after standing in the way of approval of Cabinet members expeditiously.

The Donald Trump Impeachment Trial will start in two weeks, and work will begin on the COVID 19 Pandemic legislation, and the confirmation of all of the Cabinet appointees of President Joe Biden will now move forward rapidly.

Joe Biden wants a very activist first 100 Days, possibly the greatest since Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal in the years of the Great Depression.

This is a time for optimism and hope as we move forward!

An Inauguration Day Of Relief, Optimism, And Accomplishment, And Joe Biden’s “Heroes”

Ronald Leave a comment

Inauguration Day 2021 was a day of a sense of relief that Donald Trump is gone, and a sense of optimism reigns and it is clear Joe Biden intends to be extremely activist on the level of a Lyndon B. Johnson or a Franklin D. Roosevelt!

This is perfectly understandable, as we face a series of crises unmatched since FDR, but in some ways as dangerous as Abraham Lincoln faced with the seditionists that started the Civil War 160 years ago.

Now we have a new group of seditionists, with the reality that party politics has been switched dramatically, as in the Civil War, the Republican Party was for the Union and African American freedom, while now the Republican Party is acting like the Confederate Democrats of the Civil War, displaying their treason and racism!

Meanwhile, President Biden has a group of “heroes” in the Oval Office to inspire him, and it says legions about the 46th President.

There are portraits of Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

Also, there are busts of Martin Luther King, Jr, Robert F. Kennedy, Cesar Chavez, Daniel Webster, Rosa Parks, and Eleanor Roosevelt.

What A Wonderful Inauguration Tomorrow Of Joe Biden And Kamala Harris!

Ronald Leave a comment

What a wonderful inauguration takes place tomorrow, Wednesday, January 20, 2021!

A President and Vice President who have empathy, compassion, common decency, and exceptional character to lead us out of the nightmare of Donald Trump and his racist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, nativist, and misogynist followers, offer recovery and advancement in the next four years!

If Donald Trump had won, our nation would be in the throes of a full scale Fascist dictatorship, and the attempted coup on January 6, thankfully, was overcome, but showed just how dangerous a situation we would be in if Trump had won, or stolen the election, as he clearly did with Russian collusion in 2016!

To deny the truth and reality is no longer going to be acceptable, and this author and blogger will not associate with anyone who tries to deny truth and reality about Donald Trump!

So tomorrow, we will have our second Catholic President of Irish ethnicity (after John F. Kennedy); our first woman and African and Asian heritage as our Vice President; and with our first Latina (Puerto Rican) Supreme Court Justice (Sonia Sotomayor) giving the oath to Kamala Harris; and with the first Second Gentleman, Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish, bringing the highest level person of Jewish ethnicity into the top levels of government! We also will be bringing a true educator, Dr. Jill Biden, in as First Lady!

And also, we have our first Jewish Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer; and our first Jewish Senator from Georgia, Jon Ossoff; and the first African American Senator from Georgia, the Reverend Raphael Warnock (who was pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, earlier having Martin Luther King, Jr as its pastor; and the first Latino Senator from California, Alex Padilla, with all three Senators being sworn in tomorrow when the Democrats take control of the US Senate!

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have major challenges not matched since Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and let all of us wish them the best, and knowing they have our backs!

Amazingly, President Jimmy Carter And Vice President Walter Mondale Celebrating 40 Years Of Retirement!

Ronald Leave a comment

On Inauguration Day this Wednesday, Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Walter Mondale will celebrate 40 years of retirement from their term of office in the White House!

This is an amazing record, and is an accomplishment which will never be surpassed in the future, and to top it off, Rosalynn Carter is also still with her husband, celebrating 74 and a half years of marriage, an all time record for any President and First Lady!

Jimmy Carter is three months past 96, an all time record for any President, and Walter Mondale is past 93, making him the fifth oldest Vice President in age, with Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush two of the four longer lived Vice Presidents.

Jimmy Carter has lived longer than any Vice President, except for John Nance Garner, first Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was 98, but only a couple of weeks short of age 99. The other Vice President who lived longer than any other than Garner was Levi Morton under President Benjamin Harrison, who died on his 96th birthday!

The reputation of Jimmy Carter is on the rise, more so because of the totally reprehensible and diametrically opposite personality and character of Donald Trump.

Rosalynn Carter has a dignified reputation as First Lady, a lady of class, unlike the tramp image and disgraceful reputation of Melania Trump, who will go down as the absolute worst First Lady in American history!

And Walter Mondale has the reputation of being the most active, engaged, and productive Vice President in American history, with Jimmy Carter given a lot of the credit, since he did not perceive his own Vice President as a threat, and in this regard, Barack Obama and Joe Biden stand out as equally outstanding.

And one can sense Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will add to the reputation of Carter-Mondale and Obama-Biden, particularly important after the mediocre and submissive Mike Pence under Donald Trump!