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The US from a position a real weakness handled a strong Germany and Japan and rebuilt those countries. Which goes to the point about Leadership. There is a long

by yann2 5y ago

The US from a position a real weakness handled a strong Germany and Japan and rebuilt those countries. Which goes to the point about Leadership. There is a long list of terrible decisions post 9/11. No comparision between FDR/Truman/Ike and the buffoon class of Bush/Obama/Trump.

iammisc 5y ago
> No comparision between FDR/Truman/Ike and the buffoon class of Bush/Obama/Trump. As much as I would love to rag on Bush, Obama, and Trump, you have to realize that FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower had an extremely homogeneous, nationalistic, patriotic people to lead, whereas bush, obama, and trump all were handed an extremely divided country where nationalism and patriotism were bad words, with perhaps the exception of Bush who got post-9/11 unity for a bit.
- forz877 5y ago
  On top of that, the conquered nations were not failed states. The US had a vested interest in protecting western Europe from the soviets, and given the historical and philosophical similarities and background of western Europe to the US, this was rather doable. Even the US policy towards Japan was rather shrewd. It's unlikely to see Afghanistan become anymore than what it is regardless of foreign intervention. They don't have the same recent history. It's similar to a Somalia than a Vietnam.
- dragontamer 5y ago
  The national unity that FDR brought forth was no accident. FDR created the Office of Censorship and spent billions of dollars on pro-US propaganda, the likes of which Bush/Obama/Trump never wanted to repeat. FDR was damn near a dictator, a popular one but a near dictator nonetheless. With one executive order, FDR made gold illegal while the USA was still on the gold standard. FDR almost succeeded in stacking the Supreme Courts (and even then, his 12+ years of tenure allowed him to make the courts almost entirely his choice). FDR grew so powerful that we literally got an Amendment to the Constitution to make sure 4-terms as President can never happen again. Today, there's so many libertarians who just go up in arms about the idea of making Cryptocoins illegal.

by yann2 5y ago

iammisc 5y ago

> No comparision between FDR/Truman/Ike and the buffoon class of Bush/Obama/Trump. As much as I would love to rag on Bush, Obama, and Trump, you have to realize that FDR, Truman, and Eisenhower had an extremely homogeneous, nationalistic, patriotic people to lead, whereas bush, obama, and trump all were handed an extremely divided country where nationalism and patriotism were bad words, with perhaps the exception of Bush who got post-9/11 unity for a bit.

forz877 5y ago
On top of that, the conquered nations were not failed states. The US had a vested interest in protecting western Europe from the soviets, and given the historical and philosophical similarities and background of western Europe to the US, this was rather doable. Even the US policy towards Japan was rather shrewd. It's unlikely to see Afghanistan become anymore than what it is regardless of foreign intervention. They don't have the same recent history. It's similar to a Somalia than a Vietnam.
dragontamer 5y ago
The national unity that FDR brought forth was no accident. FDR created the Office of Censorship and spent billions of dollars on pro-US propaganda, the likes of which Bush/Obama/Trump never wanted to repeat. FDR was damn near a dictator, a popular one but a near dictator nonetheless. With one executive order, FDR made gold illegal while the USA was still on the gold standard. FDR almost succeeded in stacking the Supreme Courts (and even then, his 12+ years of tenure allowed him to make the courts almost entirely his choice). FDR grew so powerful that we literally got an Amendment to the Constitution to make sure 4-terms as President can never happen again. Today, there's so many libertarians who just go up in arms about the idea of making Cryptocoins illegal.