President Obama won’t be regarded for Roosevelt’s Four Freedom Award, EVER!

○ Chancellor Angela Merkel Laureaat International Four Freedoms Award 2016

Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Awards

The Four Freedoms Awards are presented to men and women whose achievements have demonstrated a commitment to those principles which President Roosevelt proclaimed in his historic speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, as essential to democracy: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.

The Roosevelt Institute has awarded the Four Freedoms Medals to some of the most distinguished Americans and world citizens of our time, including Presidents Truman, Carter, and Clinton; H.R.H. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands; Nelson Mandela; J. William Fulbright; Arthur Miller; and Desmond Tutu. The Awards are presented in New York City every other year; international awards are given by the Roosevelt Stichting of the Netherlands on alternate years.

For highlights from the 2015 Awards, please click here.  

The great democracy of America has faltered ever since as war after war was sought as the shackles of colonialism came off

○ Frances Perkins, an economist and social worker, served in Roosevelt’s gubernatorial administration

    “If you believe we desperately need a great surge of democracy in the face of fierce opposition from reactionary and corporate forces, then remembering the spirit of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died 69 years ago this week, is in order. Historian Harvey J. Kaye talks about how FDR was able to mobilize Americans to create ‘the strongest and most prosperous country in human history.'”

Thoughts on Bernie Sanders’s Democratic Socialism and the Primary | Roosevelt Institute |

Bernie Sanders gave a major speech outlining his definition of democratic socialism and how it relates to both his candidacy and American history. In doing so, he also described an expansive vision of economic security and fairness. The speech is important because it shows some of the strengths and weaknesses of left-liberalism at this moment, both through what it describes and, more interesting, what it doesn’t. It also clarifies how he can better contrast with Hillary Clinton on policy.

Here are eight random thoughts about the speech.

1. American History: I’m happy to see Sanders ground his politics and what he wants to do as the continuation of a proud American tradition, including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Martin Luther King Jr. Extra credit for a reference to the Second Bill of Rights speech by Roosevelt.

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8. Appoint Who? The biggest practical difference between Democratic administrations given a GOP-dominated Congress is in the appointments. So far only O’Malley has pushed Clinton in the debates on whether she’d draw from the Rubin wing of economists and staff once in office.

Personnel is policy. Sanders could offer a clearer vision of what he’d want for his administration by describing his likely appointment criteria. Would he appoint people to the Federal Reserve who believe in breaking up the banks? Would he appoint people to the Department of Justice who take mass incarceration as the threat it is? President Sanders is unlikely to get Medicare for All, but he will have to make appointments. This would also hopefully start locking Clinton into specifics on the people she’d put in place if she becomes president–a question that still worries many progressives and liberals.

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