Jon Talton: Obama to be “Carterized”? Was He Elected “Too Soon”?
Here’s one: What if Obama were elected too soon to be a Rooseveltian transformative figure? In other words, imagine if FDR had been elected president in 1928.
Herbert Hoover had been president for only a few months when the stock market crashed and the repercussions began to be felt throughout America. Contrary to myth, Hoover didn’t stand pat. He embarked on the most aggressive federal effort of its kind up to that point, but ultimately his mind couldn’t embrace the magnitude of the problem or the necessity of programs inimical to his principles. So for nearly four years, the Depression deepened. Official unemployment was 25 percent — and probably far higher. Republicans were clearly identified with the bad times. Not only was Hoover as unpopular as George W. Bush, but conservatism was anathema. This not only repudiated Republican and conservative governance, but discredited the latter for nearly half a century.
Obama, by contrast, came to office early in the financial calamity that I place as part of a far broader Great Disruption, the bulk of which is in our future, particularly if we continue our current model of business and living arrangements. Unemployment is officially 7.2 percent — if one factors in underemployment and those who have given up looking, the figure rises to perhaps 13 percent. Americans have lost 40 percent or more of their nest eggs, and huge amounts in the values of their houses. Yet for all this real suffering, the nation is much richer and more stable than in 1933, when Roosevelt became president.
Differences between now and the 1930s. There are other differences. The Republicans of 2009 remain not only viable, but they have been made stronger by Obama’s efforts at compromise and bipartisanship. Indeed, American conservatism is most effective as an oppositional, rather than a governing, philosophy. In the minority, conservatives can block and criticize, but not face blame for what goes wrong. The are highly disciplined — the stimulus received not one GOP vote in the House — a sharp contrast to the Republicans of the past that included liberals. moderates and populists. In a sense, they have the president right where they want him — admittedly partly through some of his missteps.
Unlike in 1932, conservatism continues to appeal to average Americans, particularly on cutting taxes — never mind the efficacy of that — and on cultural resentments. It doesn’t hurt the loyal opposition that the media are concentrated under corporate owners that don’t want to lose power under a change administration. Finally, as I have written, Republicans retain more seats in Congress than in 1933, with more of a de-facto veto over Obama’s policies.
The Democratic Party of 1932 was Will Rogers’ famously disorganized one. But it was united in a Roosevelt coalition of big city machines, unions, minorities and Southern segregationists. It was united by four years of catastrophe under Hoover. Obama’s party lacks unity and spine. It’s unclear that the Obama coalition has real-world applications besides winning an election over a weak opponent and giving a TV-addled nation a chance to feel good for a while.
Bad policy, enacted by conservatives but also pursued by Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, is to blame for the financial calamity: deregulation, lack of oversight, a hollowed-out economy ever more dependent on bubbles to keep growing, oil dependence, a costly war of choice in Iraq, industry consolidation, income inequality, tax cuts and tax policies favoring the rich, Bush debt — the list is long. Yet for most Americans the roof didn’t really fall in until the eve of the election. And fixing the mess will be long, costly and complex — perhaps even more so than in the 1930s.
For example, Obama does not face — yet — an unemployment emergency similar to 1932.
Pundits can argue whether or not FDR “ended” the Depression, but what he did do — what Hoover wouldn’t — was put people to work and provide relief. Obama faces a far more complicated financial mess in an economy that has been ailing deep inside for years. In 1932, the factories were idled. Now they are simply gone — and not replaced, for most Americans, by high-paying technology jobs. Thus a New Deal-style jobs program would help, but not to the extent as Roosevelt’s.
Also in the 1930s, unsustainable companies collapsed. Now both the Bush and Obama administrations are trying to keep many on life support. In the 1930s, America was the world’s creditor; now we are deeply in the red. Now we are facing tremendous threats from global warming and peak oil (America was the world’s oil exporter in the 1930s). And the Obama years are just starting.
A perverse result may be that Obama becomes Carterized — seen as an ineffective figure paralyzed before cascading disasters. He may be more articulate than President Carter, less given to lecturing. He may be cooler. All this will count for little if the hard times continue for four years amid an administration that can’t get results. Timing isn’t everything. But it helps.