R.H. President's Day Style

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/02/16/presidential.survey/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Above is the address to the latest ranking of Presidents with, morality, leadership, economic management, and foreign diplomacy. No surprise Lincoln comes in first, but there are some underrated Presidents that we fail to pay homage to. It would be a safe assumption that only about 25% of the American population can name all of the Presidents and that figure is quite optimistic to put it nicely. We tend to focus on the big names, from the Founding Fathers, skip to Lincoln, Wilson, Teddy, FDR, and on to modern times. You never hear about Calvin Coolidge, who staved off worse a worse economic recession than 1929 crash originally was by refusing to interfere in the economy.

We always think of the roaring 20's as a time of greed and foolish extravagance against the backdrop of the coming depression, but perhaps it is the governance of the depression that should be viewed foolishly. The other side quickly made the comparison of Hoover to Bush, a bumbling idiot who's purpose was to make way for the heroic FDR, or now Obama. I would agree but for different reasons. Hoover tried to appease those who wanted government intervention in the economy. President Hoover presented to Congress a program asking for aid to business, additional help for farmers facing mortgage foreclosures, banking reform, a loan to states for feeding the unemployed, expansion of public works, and drastic governmental economy. Sound familiar? Just like President W. Bush, Hoover tried to use the government to fix a private business cycle. Strangely enough, it did not work at all but only worsened the crisis, paving the way for a radical to sweep into office and foresee the biggest "change" this country has ever seen in peacetime. The popular notion is FDR came in and introduced social programs to put the unemployed to work in infrastructure programs and helped the poor, but his predecessor had already started that process to no avail. Interestedly enough, by 1936 the economy crashed again due to protectionist trade policies, (can you say Pelosi's Buy American). The parallels are indeed very striking, but for reasons far different than the modern Left likes to think of history. This is all tied to Hoover panicking, abandoning the traditional fiscal policies of the Republican Party, and turning a painful but necessary recession into a social and economic disaster this country has not yet recovered from. If anything, we slide further down the slope of activist governance each election cycle, save a brief 8 year slowdown during Reagan.

Obama quipped at a recent press conference that he didn't understand why conservatives were arguing about how FDR handled the economy, saying that debate was long over. I am sure it is at Harvard University Mr. President, but there will always be a few curious minds who look to the mistakes and triumphs of past Presidents with an open mind. Change and hope in the future is all grand, but wisdom and prudence are timeless.