Opinion of Franklin D. Roosevelt

[Peter the Lefty]

Truman was once asked by a historian, what he was really thinking of Roosevelt. He was silent for a good moment, then said: "deep down he was very cold. He didn't really care about you or me, but... he was an excellent President".

This sums it up.  None of the right things he did were out of compassion.  As witnessed by his positions on lynchings, he had no heart whatsoever.  Any influence which may have caused him to appear to have a heart seems to have come from either Eleanor (a real socialist, btw), or perhaps his rational Bismarckian mind whose chief purpose was the protection of the capitalist system from any kind of revolution at the ballot box.  He even attempted an austerity program and only abandoned it due to its unpopularity, I should remind you. 

[RosettaStoned]

 Terrible President.

[politicallefty]

Nah, Obama hasn't done sh**t for labor.

To be fair, he's been hugely limited by the Congresses he's had to deal with. I have no doubt he would've signed the EFCA if it were on his desk. Unfortunately, despite unanimous Democratic support in 2007, a number of so-called Democrats jumped ship in 2009 when it actually could've been sent to President Obama for his signature. From what I recall, it was Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson that prevented the bill from achieving cloture. (And I'm not one bit sorry for seeing them out of the United States Senate.)

[TNF]

Nah, Obama hasn't done sh**t for labor.

To be fair, he's been hugely limited by the Congresses he's had to deal with. I have no doubt he would've signed the EFCA if it were on his desk. Unfortunately, despite unanimous Democratic support in 2007, a number of so-called Democrats jumped ship in 2009 when it actually could've been sent to President Obama for his signature. From what I recall, it was Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson that prevented the bill from achieving cloture. (And I'm not one bit sorry for seeing them out of the United States Senate.)

He could have pushed for EFCA, but he didn't. He let it die in committee. He had a supermajority. He somehow managed to twist enough arms to get that awful excuse for a healthcare plan through, so there are literally no excuses for getting a much better bill, like EFCA, through the House and Senate, because at the end of the day, he'd not have to worry about holding progressive support on it.

[politicallefty]

He could have pushed for EFCA, but he didn't. He let it die in committee. He had a supermajority. He somehow managed to twist enough arms to get that awful excuse for a healthcare plan through, so there are literally no excuses for getting a much better bill, like EFCA, through the House and Senate, because at the end of the day, he'd not have to worry about holding progressive support on it.

It had already passed the House in 2007 and had 231 cosponsors in 2009. The burden was not on the House or the President. It was on the Senate. It failed to pass the EFCA thanks to some who call themselves Democrats. That included Ben Nelson (who always had a bad streak) and Blanche Lincoln (who, like most Arkansas Senators, put Wal-Mart's interests above the working class). I don't know how President Obama would've been able to twist enough arms to get 60 votes in the Senate for the EFCA. (As for the filibuster, I think that's a separate debate.)