for thje historians - was Roosevelt dismissive of his base?

[rurallib]

Gibbs little faux pas was hardly the first 'fuck them' to the left. After a few of these one sees a pattern.
I don't remember reading that Roosevelt was dismissive of those who supported him like that.
Curious

[killbotfactory]

1. People who equate Bush with Obama don't support Obama.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

[provis99]

2. Gibbs says liberals equate Obama with Bush, so it must be true, according to you.

Glad you're the voice of concern for Rahm and the
DLC.

[killbotfactory]

3. He didn't say that.

You guys are reading way too much into his comments. It's like people can't accept anything that doesn't fit into the "The Obama administration is shitting on me!" worldview.

[Gman]

5. You must not read DU very much

[brentspeak]

13. How about people who equate the tea baggers with progressive Democrats?

[geek tragedy]

20. Reactionary, rejectionist idiots exist in all ideological stripes. nt

[Gman]

4. The far left is NOT Obama's base

They don't support him. Why should he even try to work with them? Most don't even claim to be Democrats but instead hope the Democratic Party goes down in defeat this year to "teach them a lesson". So just why the hell should he NOT be dismissive of the far left. I don't blame him one bit.

[kjackson227]

8. +1

[Uzybone]

21. We need to start right there...the far left is not the base

most of the far left aren't even democrats.

Well said.

[uponit7771]

23. AMEN!!!!

[impik]

27. They don't and never did. I doubt they voted for him. That's why they're working

so hard to destroy him.

[CitizenLeft]

33. you got that right.

...from the primaries right through to this very moment. Never, ever his base.

[wyldwolf]

6. If you're defining "base" as the most liberal element, FDR WAS dismissive of them

Roosevelt saw the GOP gain 81 seats in the House, 8 seats in the Senate, and 13 governorships in the 1938 midterm elections. Both the Wisconsin Progressive Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party suffered defeats, losing most of their congressional seats, and Republicans defeated both Philip La Follette in Wisconsin and Elmer Benson in Minnesota in their gubernatorial reelection campaigns.

But FDR wasn't completely down about it.

"We have on the positive side eliminated Phil La Follette and the Farmer-Labor people in the Northwest as a standing Third Party Threat."

Oh, and just for good measure, Harry Truman expressed satisfaction he won in '48 without the votes from the left - who'd supported Henry Wallace.

[msanthrope]

16. Yes, thank you for that little reality check....

[BklnDem75]

31. Deja vu all over again

Thanks for this.

[amandabeech]

32. Roosevelt also stupidly had tried to balance the budget in '37,

which reversed the recovery that had been going on since he was first elected.

The economy goes down, the party in power loses.

Back then, the angry went left. Now they go right, too.

It's the jobs, stupid.

[rurallib]

7. wow - I thought this was a simple straight forward question.

[wyldwolf]

10. I gave you a straight forward answer.

[rurallib]

17. Apparently I was typing while you posted - thank you so much

we then had some unexpected company and I was gone for a while.
While histories often record what happened it is often hard to remember or to find what the environment of the times were.
I am a very slow typist.

[Enrique]

9. JFK and LBJ got testy toward civil rights activists

there are tapes of both of them scolding MLK pretty good, when King was pushing too hard as the presidents saw it.

[wyldwolf]

12. “I’m not a liberal at all... I’m not comfortable with those people.”

- John F. Kennedy

[Jennicut]

11. Do you think Roosevelt did not have to deal with criticism on the left?

"Historians on the left have denounced the New Deal as a conservative phenomenon that let slip the opportunity to radically reform capitalism. Since the 1960s, "New Left" historians have been among the New Deal's harsh critics. Barton J. Bernstein, in a 1968 essay, compiled a chronicle of missed opportunities and inadequate responses to problems. The New Deal may have saved capitalism from itself, Bernstein charged, but it had failed to help — and in many cases actually harmed — those groups most in need of assistance. Paul K. Conkin in The New Deal (1967) similarly chastised the government of the 1930s for its policies toward marginal farmers, for its failure to institute sufficiently progressive tax reform, and its excessive generosity toward select business interests. Howard Zinn, in 1966, criticized the New Deal for working actively to actually preserve the worst evils of capitalism."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal

Roosevelt did not like populist Senator Huey Long, and set out to discredit him. Long was a critic on the left.

Roosevelt considered Long a radical demagogue. The president privately said of Long that along with General Douglas MacArthur, "he was one of the two most dangerous men in America."

Roosevelt later compared Long's meteoric rise in popularity to that of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

To discredit Long and damage his support base, in 1934 Roosevelt had Long's finances investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. Though they failed to link Long to any illegality, some of Long's lieutenants were charged with income tax evasion, but only one had been convicted by the time of Long's death.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long

FDR did some things that would make as seriously balk today, like snubbing Jesse Owens after the Olympics, putting Japense-Americans in detention camps, and going after his critics like Long. He sought to stock the Supreme Court and actively interfered in primaries. Yes, he passed a very, very good progressive agenda. But no man (or woman) is perfect.

[rurallib]

18. Thanks - my old brain just don't remember it all

I guess I have heard the criticisms from the left but have forgotten about them.
All that stands in my brain is FDR - Liberal hero.
So all this fooforaw is nothing new?

[johnaries]

19. Yep - nothing new. Just Deja vu all over again. :)

[Jennicut]

22. Nope, it happens in every single Presidency, Repub and Dem and

Whig and whatever else there was back then (Republican-Democrat, LOL!).

[WI_DEM]

14. Actually the "far left" gave FDR a hard time and many were looking at Huey Long for '36

[scheming daemons]

15. Yes.....actually... . the far left DID attack Roosevelt and wanted Huey Long

..... and he had to deal with that same bunch of malcontents that are reincarnated into the screaming left today.

[brooklynite]

24. A Couple of Observations...

Political Polling (much less daily tracking polls)hadn't been invented...

24-Hour news stations hadn't been invented...

Blogging hadn't been invented...

FDR certainly annoyed some of his supporters, but the day by day "conflict" (either actual or pontificated about) didn't exist, so the stress and irritation wasn't there. You advocated for your position (respectfully) and you voted based on the results and the choice.

[felix_numinous]

25. I have yet to see a link about equating Obama with Bush.

Let the responsibility be laid where it is deserved and lets move on. All I have seen are debates about policy, which as far as I know is still legal and productive.

We cannot afford this crap right now.

oops- meant as a general reply

[impik]

26. I doubt his base dismiss him.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

28. No

But he was dismissive of the Socialists and Communists of the far left. Roosevelt's base was far closer to the center than many would imagine.

[BklnDem75]

29. Comparing Obama to Bush = Not the base

They're the 10-15% in every poll. Sorry.

[Whisp]

30. it was not to the base but to a small and yelling faction.

the screamers, like that Carville jerkoff during the BP spill, shooting his crooked paid professional fucking mouth off and repeating LIES in his stupid looking baseball cap and his viscious and vile repug wife

[last_texas_dem]

34. At least FDR's criticisms seemed to largely be aimed

at real people on the left who were critical of his policies and supportive of third party candidates. Gibbs is railing against some mythical legion of Pentagon-abolition-advocating uber-leftists. He sounds like he's been listening to a little too much Rush or something.

[LoZoccolo]

35. I imagine he was dismissive of people who compared him to Hoover. n/t