<$BlogRSDURL$>

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

T.R. Kidnapping Thwarted

The Moose is on alert for an attempted kidnapping of a Presidential legacy.

Clearly, Karl Rove reads the Moose. Last week, the Moose argued that Mr. Rove was no modern Mark Hanna, the force behind William McKinley's Presidency. In a clear response, the Presidential Svengali is attempting to appropriate the glory of the Colonel.

Not so fast, Mr. Hanna wannabe. The Moose reminds the Mooseketeers what Hanna said when T.R. was sworn in as Chief Executive after the death of McKinley, "That damned cowboy is president of the United States." Hanna, as Rove knows, loathed the Great One. In fact, before he died, Hanna was thought to be a possible challenger of T.R. for the Republican nomination in 1904.

Mr. Rove, you cannot deceive the Moose!

Why did Hanna despise T.R. ? Because Roosevelt saw Hanna's robber baron buddies as endangering democracy. He was the great trust buster. He inveighed against the misdeeds of the "malefactors of great wealth."

In his Time article, Mr. Rove offers seven lessons that T.R.'s legacy that are valuable for contemporary America. Unfortunately, he omits a big one that tells us so much about this Administration and why it betrays T.R.'s legacy. Here is the lesson that Rove failed to mention -

8. Plutocracy is destructive to democracy - T.R. railed against the destructive effects that a concentration of wealth has on our democratic life. That is why he was a proponent of campaign finance reform, regulation of corporations, the rights of workers, conservation and tax justice. He would have found it obscene to eliminate the estate tax during wartime. T.R. was an advocate of national greatness which demanded that America advance its ideals abroad and promote economic justice at home.

By putting T.R. on the cover, Time Magazine acknowledges that there is a yearning for leadership that embodies national unity and greatness. Is there a leader who is a war hero, reformer, defender of the environment, a promoter of American power and who is willing to take on big money?

The Moose may have someone in mind...
-- Posted at 6:05 AM | Link to this post | Email this post