Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Romney and Democrats' Own Past

Since when have Democrats had a problem with wealthy presidential candidates? Democrats' two most revered presidents, FDR and Kennedy, were extraordinarily wealthy. Interestingly, the contrast between Democrats' past history and their current attacks on Romney is never acknowledged -- either by Democrats or the media.
The Obama campaign has used Romney's wealth to caricature him. To hear them tell it, he was born Richie Rich and became Gordon Gecko. Of course, such a sketch serves many purposes -- from the politics of division to the economics of redistribution. The problem is it neither fits Romney nor Democrats' own self-cherished past.
Despite the recent resurrection of Bill Clinton -- really a factor of limited choices (it's either Clinton or Carter), the modern Democratic party rests on the twin pillars of Roosevelt and Kennedy. And those pillars' political careers rested on great wealth.
FDR built today's Democratic Party, and along with it the modern all-encompassing presidency. Democrats idolize both.
Roosevelt was not exactly born in a log cabin. Rather, FDR was born to wealth and privilege unimaginable to most Americans of his day or today's. He is possibly America's wealthiest president. Yet this did not hurt his political ascent, even during the depths of the Depression.

Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/09/25/romney-and-democrats-own-past

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