FDR’s lesson for skittish Democrats
With change in narrative imminent, liberals should follow Roosevelt's lead, embrace President Obama's signature domestic achievement
Welcome to another edition of Curbside Consult.
My guest this week is Michael Hiltzik, a columnist with the Los Angeles Times and the author of The New Deal: A Modern History, now out in paperback.
Michael has been doing great work covering the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and we spent a good deal of time in this multi-part interview discussing those efforts.
In Part 4, we discuss the current media narrative about Obamacare … and Michael draws another parallel to Franklin Roosevelt’s domestic policy agenda.
He says that skittish Democrats could certainly learn a thing or two from FDR when it comes to defending … and demanding some of the credit for … President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.
We also talk about how Obamacare is likely to fare in the coming months … and how the media’s narrative will change. If the online experience continues to improve, Michael says, “then I think we will look back on this and say, ‘Well that was a rough roll-out but we’ve survived it’ … and the story will go away.”
I hope you enjoy the conversation.