A profound thanks to those who invoke FDR and the New Dealers

[JDPriestly]

46. Obama has done a lot of good things.

But if he had given Americans the hope that FDR gave us, then Democrats would have strong majorities in both houses.

Americans are not hopeful and above all do not have confidence in the government at this time.

It is not all Obama's fault. But Obama is partly responsible for the fact that Americans do not have the hope that working together as a people provides. Obama never dared to take the bankers down. Roosevelt did not hesitate to haul a few of them off to jail.

It may seem horrible, but I think the American people on the whole would have had more faith in government and more hope had a few bankers been required to admit the fraud and dirty tricks they committed and had to take responsibility for the horrible, horribly poor judgment they used in loaning what in the end was the money of the American people.

Hope comes when you have a sense that you have a fair chance, a fighting chance. Obama for all of the good he has done -- the ACA primarily -- has not inspired in ordinary Americans a sense of being in it together and having a fighting chance. It just has not happened.

Hope is not alive in the US today. Some have hope. It isn't completely dead. But it is not vibrant and alive.

The proof is in the make-up of Congress.