Barack Obama officially took power this Tuesday and officially “turns page on Bush years”. And what a great time to become president. We all know the current situation of not just the U.S. but of the whole world… it is not rosy… The U.S. has never faced such a depression since the Great Depression of the 30s, to top that the image of the country was spoiled after a series of bad decisions of the previous government.
Will Obama really be able to turn the page? And a more important question: is the next page better than the current one? A short analysis of the Hoover–Roosevelt presidential change shows a few similarities but also a great deal of differences between the two situations. The ruling government side shifted from Republican to Democratic in those years, too. Roosevelt offered a comforting feeling of change just like Obama does right now. There are some potential similarities also: the New Deal pact offered a real change to the U.S. citizens and there is currently a chance of repeating that move to.
A big difference is that parts of the “New Deal” initiated by Roosevelt still exist. That is, the one change that helped a lot the country still exists, but can not cope with the current problems.
There is, however, an even bigger difference in the current situation from the Roosevelt era: the real solution that meant the full turn-over for the U.S. was WWII. The “New Deal” never really ended until the U.S.’s entry into the war. Much of the real turnaround was provided by the great technological advances the U.S. possessed after WWII, and also turning the country into a great war industry provided jobs for many while keeping the country united against a common enemy. As people slowly get fed up with terrorism, the one common enemy that the U.S. nation has now, is starting to fade away.
All that said, president Obama faces indeed a hard job. He needs to improve the economy and overall good mood in the country without war or without using too harsh measures. If he really manages to turn the page (and I wish him good luck with that… he is is surely going to need it 🙂 ), then the man really is SOMETHING!