Remember Fala

Our politics are so broken, petty, tedious, predictable. It didn’t used to be like that. America’s politicians have always been imperfect people, yet two of them stand apart — one in each century — as America’s decisive leaders: Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They were geniuses. Franklin Roosevelt wasn’t a saint, nor was he a perfect president. None are, including Lincoln. Lincoln is FDR’s only true presidential peer.

While Lincoln saved the Union, FDR saved the world. He fulfilled Lafayette’s premonition that the new world would become the salvation of the old.

There are obviously no recordings or film of Abraham Lincoln, but there are of FDR. Compare FDR to the smallness and viciousness of the MAGA idiocy unleashed all around us. Listen to the exquisite “Fala” speech, which was FDR’s political kick-off in 1944. In my view, it is the greatest political speech, bar none, in American history. FDR was terminally ill when he delivered it. He would be dead within the year, but on this night, he was at his very best in front of a room of completely sloshed Teamsters, speaking to the whole country over radio.

A crazy Republican had accused him of abandoning his little dog Fala, his constant companion, on an Aleutian Island, and sending a Navy Destroyer to get him, risking the lives of the crew. Here is his response:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a genuine aristocrat. He lived a life that couldn’t possibly have been more different than the working men and women who revered him as their champion in 1944.

When he was a young man he was insufferable. He was preening, arrogant, deceitful, ambitious and wealthy beyond measure. His polio changed him dramatically, beyond crippling him. It humbled him, and unleashed a tremendous empathy that would make him a political leader of staggering importance.

World War II did little to interrupt the plotting, ambitions, opportunities or stupidities of America’s political class. Members of Congress could be just as venal, dishonest and crazy as they are today. Throughout the war, FDR and his family were attacked mercilessly by his opponents.

He did not meet their pettiness with more. He used humor and grace as his weapons, and the result is the greatest political speech — ever.

FDR brought honor to his country and office. These coming days will be filled with dishonor aplenty. It is important to be reminded of better by listening to it from time to time.

Enjoy.