Katrina vanden Heuvel: November's Unpalatable Choice
[Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of the Nation and writes a weekly column for The Post.]
On the eve of the 1940 election, then-President Franklin Roosevelt took to the stump to call out his Republican adversaries for their obstructionism. "The Republican campaign orators and leaders are all now yelling 'me too' on help to Britain. But this fall they had their chance to vote to give aid to Britain and other democracies -- and they turned it down," Roosevelt declared. On this offense, he cited three congressmen as particular offenders: "Great Britain and a lot of other nations would never have received one ounce of help from us -- if the decision had been left to Martin, Barton and Fish."
There's a clear echo of Roosevelt in President Obama's midterm messaging, which he is starting to preview. Republicans, Obama declared in Missouri last week, "said no to laws that we passed to stop insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. They said no to requiring women to get equal pay for equal work. They said no to extended unemployment insurance for folks who desperately needed help. They said no to holding oil companies accountable when they bring on catastrophe." Then the president castigated three specific offenders: "[T]his is the leadership that we've gotten from Barton and Boehner and Blunt."...
Read entire article at WaPo
On the eve of the 1940 election, then-President Franklin Roosevelt took to the stump to call out his Republican adversaries for their obstructionism. "The Republican campaign orators and leaders are all now yelling 'me too' on help to Britain. But this fall they had their chance to vote to give aid to Britain and other democracies -- and they turned it down," Roosevelt declared. On this offense, he cited three congressmen as particular offenders: "Great Britain and a lot of other nations would never have received one ounce of help from us -- if the decision had been left to Martin, Barton and Fish."
There's a clear echo of Roosevelt in President Obama's midterm messaging, which he is starting to preview. Republicans, Obama declared in Missouri last week, "said no to laws that we passed to stop insurance companies from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions. They said no to requiring women to get equal pay for equal work. They said no to extended unemployment insurance for folks who desperately needed help. They said no to holding oil companies accountable when they bring on catastrophe." Then the president castigated three specific offenders: "[T]his is the leadership that we've gotten from Barton and Boehner and Blunt."...