The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08

(image by Matt Brunson)

Why not pit these 1st 100 days against the grandaddy “100 Days” of them all?

I hope I can follow through & do all 100.

What I plan is this:

Each literal day of the Obama administration will be compared to the corresponding day of FDR’s 1st term. I don’t have exact data for each of the 1933 days but I’m sure it’s out there somewhere on the internets.

I will (try to) post on the day after the ‘day’ in question.

Meaning, yesterday, for both candidates, was Day 1:

Day 1, 1933

Day 1, 2009

Both men have ‘groundbreaking’ presidencies - FDR’s for the disabled (though not disclosed at the time) & Obama’s for his skin color. So they cancel each other out there.

Both men came to power in times of great economic crisis, though folks were much, much worse off in March of 1933.

The U.S. was not at war in 1933, but is involved in 2 wars in 2009.

FDR’s line “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” does not, in my view, have a comparable line in Obama’s speech.

BUT–

FDR loses points - & Obama gets a head-start on this competition - for doing absolutely nothing to help address the crisis with his predecessor. For four months he literally avoided the pleas for help from President Hoover, in order to make his actions look far more consequential. But during that 4-month period (the last time such a gap between election & inauguration existed) the crisis only became worse. By contrast, the transition between President Bush & President Obama was by far the most seamless on record, & the two men bent over backwards to make it so, to both of their credit.

Therefore:

Winner of Day 1: Barack Obama

Further reading: compare several presidents’ “1st 100 Days” here.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.