George Packer of the New Yorker has seen a certain heaviness about Obama recently. He explains it by citing this story:
On the night of his landslide victory over Hoover, in 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt had an intimate conversation with his son James:
“You know, Jimmy,” Franklin said, “all my life I have been afraid of only one thing—fire. Tonight I think I’m afraid of something else.”
“Afraid of what, Pa?”
“I’m just afraid that I may not have the strength to do this job.” He paused reflectively. “After you leave me tonight, Jimmy, I am going to pray. I am going to pray that God will help me, that he will give me the strength and the guidance to do this job and to do it right. I hope that you will pray for me, too, Jimmy.”
But for now, a moment of triumph – a step, finally in the right direction.
4 replies on “FDR’s and Obama’s Prayer”
Obama does not walk or stand alone. And he reiterated that many times during his campaign as well as tonight. WE are all in this together. WE have to become the UNITED states and work together to heal this Country.
Congradulations Joe. You’ve been with this from the beginning. You must be thrilled. I hope Obama can live up to your expectations of his cunning and leadership. Cheers.
Did Obama say this prayer to Muhammad?
I wonder if FDR is right now experiencing his fear of fire in Hell. He certainly did a crappy job – if you think the war in Iraq was a bad thing WW II was even more stupid, and FDR engineered our entry into it when all America was against it.