FDR and Fala in a carWe’ve all heard the saying that history repeats itself. And that those who don’t pay attention to history are doomed to relive it.

The truth of this lesson was brought home sharply the other day when a friend posted up to Facebook some archival footage of President Franklin Roosevelt. Shockingly, about 80% of the speech could be given by Obama today and still ring true. In fact, in light of what’s going on in Wisconsin and Michigan, this is a speech that Obama SHOULD be giving!

Case in point, Roosevelt addresses the fact that his Republican opponents are blaming unions for a lack of jobs. He points out that many factions in the Republican Party are outraged when unions contribute to political candidates, but are quite sanguine when large corporations do. Sound familiar?

After reminding us of Hitler’s tactic to “tell the big lie and keep repeating it over and over again”, he addresses the fact that, after 12 years of Republican leadership brought the country into the Great Depression, the GOP is now claiming that Roosevelt caused it. Again, sound familiar?

But rather than read my recap, listen for yourself. It’s only just under 9 minutes and is well worth hearing.

If you didn’t play the clip, you also missed the bit at the end where Roosevelt really got testy. Seems the Republicans had finally gone too far. They’d concocted a story about Roosevelt’s little terrier, Fala. Scotties generally not being able to give speeches, Roosevelt speaks for him. At least watch this bit (there is also some great footage of the little First Terrier):

If you are deaf to the political parallels, at least walk away with this lesson:

You don’t f#ck with a man’s terrier!