As Barack Obama prepares to take his inauguration oath as President of the United States, it’s worth recalling the climatic words from the acceptance speech of Franklin Roosevelt as Democratic presidential candidate in 1932 (he would go on to be the most dynamic US president of the 20th century and, with Lyndon Johnston and a handful of others, one of the most important in terms of his legislative and political agendas):
“Throughout the nation, men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the government of the last years look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth. On the farms, in the large metropolitan areas, in the smaller cities and in the villages, millions of our citizens cherish the hope that their old standards of living and of thought have not gone forever. Those millions cannot and shall not hope in vain.”
“I pledge to you, I pledge to myself, to a new deal for the American people. Let us all here assembled constitute ourselves prophets of a new order of competence and courage. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people.”