>Well, Reagan was probably even more hostile to Medicare and social security
>and the like and didn't pursue these policies.
And if he was president now, thirty years after his first contributions in the office, we might have WWIII, as J.G. Ballard speculated in a short story that has Reagan reelected (after the constitution is changed) and, while everyone is fascinated with the POTUS's vital signs crawling along the bottom of their tv screens 24/7, there's a nuclear exchange that no one even notices.
>It makes sense to try to at least speculate on the political logic
>behind our ruler's madness.
Why madness? You can stop at the logic that Carrol and Doug are pointing out, i.e. the prez is just doing his job. Even if he did do something FDRish, he'd still be doing his job, just in a different fashion. I agree with Marv and others that such a result would be better for more people. At the same time I don't see how construing what Obama's doing as inexplicable gets us anywhere.