Going Big: FDR's Legacy and Biden's New Deal

by Robert Kuttner

With history and the extraordinary parallels between Biden and FDR as his guide, the veteran political analyst diagnoses what's at stake for America in 2022 and beyond Joe Biden has found his way back to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. After four decades of diminishing prospects for ordinary people, the public likes what Biden is offering. Yet American democracy is in dire peril as Republicans, increasingly the national minority, try to destroy democracy in order to cling to power. It is the best of times and the worst of times. In Going Big, bestselling author and political journalist Robert Kuttner assesses the promise and peril of this critical juncture.


Biden, like FDR in his time, faces multiple challenges. Roosevelt had to make terrible compromises with racist legislators to win enactment of his program. Biden, to achieve the necessary governing coalition, needs to achieve durable multiracial coalitions. Roosevelt had to conquer fascism in Europe; Biden must defeat it at home. And after four decades of neoliberal policy disasters reflecting Wall Street's political influence, Biden needs to go beyond what even FDR achieved, to restore a democratic economy of broad possibility.


From a writer with an unparalleled understanding of the history and politics that have made this moment possible, this book is the essential guide to what is at stake for Joe Biden, for America, and for our democracy.

Genres: Politics, Economics, History, Nonfiction, Government

218 pages, Hardcover

Published April 26, 2022

Reviews

[MH · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in-depth look at financial policy, and how some Democratic presidents (FDR, LBJ, Truman) moved to the left during their terms to the benefit of both the nation and their political careers, while others (Carter, Clinton, Obama) embraced a neo-liberal centrist position, rejecting New Deal policies and opening the door for Wall Street corruption and banking calamities. Kuttner is guardedly optimistic that Biden will be in the former group, and that using modified New Deal policies to make life better for average Americans he can defeat the party of Trump. Any book that offers prescriptions for a sitting president is going to have a pretty limited shelf-life, and I wish that I could share in his (very cautious) optimism that a septuagenarian president is going to have a political conversion away from decades of corporate politics; but when Kuttner analyzes economic policies of the past and their political and social repercussions, he's very clear and readable about a very complicated subject.

I was lucky enough to win a copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.

[Tom Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuttner, a progressive, shows clearly how the legacy of FDR has been downgraded, actively by the GOP and as well as by Dems Carter, Clinton and Obama as they gave into Wall St. again and again. He sees Biden as a more progressive but, of course, now hampered by the GOP as well as some members of his own party (Manchin, Sinema, etc.). Biden's first Infrastructure bill is in the great FDR tradition and he has hopes more will come that way. He promotes Liz Warren as a policy leader. This is a roadmap to the 2022 elections and the 2024 elections as a way to win back seats and to avoid the GOP fascination with authoritarianism. He writes: " American urgently needs the kind of New Deal that Biden is promoting. Corporate concentration has reached a peak not seen since the Gilded Age, with the result that all of the economies net gains go to the billionaires an most working families are earning less in real terms than a generation ago." Many suggestions in the last chapter on how to make this a more equitable and less top heavy society and economy.

[Brennan Lauritzen]

I happened to meet an antitrust lawyer at a local DSA book club and they talked about how Biden's presidency was a break from the past few democratic president's philosophies. This book was bittersweet to me. It's disappointing that I'm learning about Biden's broader record just after a political campaign. I always felt Biden wasn't taking/getting credit for policies because of the Inflation Reduction Act. This book convinced me that Biden advocated for a broad progressive agenda. I'm hoping there is a broader shift going on in America to address our second gilded age, and Biden's policies were driven by democrats on the whole.

[Ivy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. I highly recommend.

[Vincenzo Rascionato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book combining history of progressive politics from the New Deal with how the political economy changed over time, finishing with great recommendations on how to bring it back.

[PetteDavis · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read

[MARC L'ESPERANCE · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read.