Political Podcast Pushes Pundit’s Perspective
The Big Show, a thoughtful radio show on current events featuring Rusty Silber and Ron Grace on WRLR-FM 98.3 in Lake County, IL, had me on May 24 to talk about President Joe Biden’s first 100 days.
Our conversation is available as an audio podcast, which you can enjoy now using the audio player above.
FDR Set The Pace
In a wide-ranging historical discussion, I talked about how the president’s first hundred days was never an issue before President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who passed 76 laws in that period, many of which are still in force today. While Biden has passed only seven, putting him on a par with President George W. Bush rather than FDR, he has nonetheless made significant achievements in that time period, particularly in the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19). A total of 235 million vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S., 219 million of those under Biden.
We talked about how repeal of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, which kept banks from speculating in the stock market for over 50 years, helped cause the crash of 2008.
Tribalism And Polarization
We also discussed Biden’s high approval ratings. I noted that because of the tribalism and polarization of American politics that began in the 1990s, a president’s approval ratings are unlikely to reach the 70% mark achieved by President John F. Kennedy and the 90% mark attained by President George W. Bush.
The January 6 insurrection came up, as did the ouster of Congresswoman Liz Cheney from her leadership post in the Republican Party. We looked at the GOP’s chances to take the House of Representatives and Senate in 2022.
Best Buddies
I gave a historical analysis of how politicians in both parties used to get along instead of hating each other, noting that Democrat JFK’s best friend in the Senate was Republican Barry Goldwater, and Republican Bob Dole’s best friend in the Senate was Democrat George McGovern.
We even talked about Astrologer Anne Nordhaus-Bike’s vegetarian/vegan cooking, and our pet cat Sterling’s reaction to the recent cold weather, in this wide-ranging discussion.
Everyone contributed with both cogent analysis and humor.
About WRLR
WRLR is “The Voice of Lake County,” and we voiced some great historical analyses!
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