Going Big: FDR, Biden, and the New New Deal

Description

With history and the extraordinary parallels between Biden and FDR as his guide, the veteran political analyst diagnoses what's at stake for America in 2022 and beyond , bestselling author and political journalist Robert Kuttner assesses the promise and peril of this critical juncture. Biden, like FDR in his time, faces multiple challenges. Roosevelt had to make terrible compromises with racist legislators to win enactment of his program. Biden, to achieve the necessary governing coalition, needs to achieve durable multiracial coalitions. Roosevelt had to conquer fascism in Europe; Biden must defeat it at home. And after four decades of neoliberal policy disasters reflecting Wall Street's political influence, Biden needs to go beyond what even FDR achieved, to restore a democratic economy of broad possibility. From a writer with an unparalleled understanding of the history and politics that have made this moment possible, this book is the essential guide to what is at stake for Joe Biden, for America, and for our democracy.

Robert Kuttner is co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect and the Economic Policy Institute and former columnist for both Business Week and the Boston Globe. The author of Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism? and Going Big (The New Press), he holds the Ida and Meyer Kirstein Chair at Brandeis University and lives in Boston.

Praise for Going Big: "A lively melange of history, politics and progressive playbook." -The New York Times Book Review "A cogent reminder of the importance of federal policy, presidential leadership, and the elusiveness of economic justice." -Kirkus Reviews "Kuttner makes a convincing case that bold policies are needed to address the country's ills." -Publishers Weekly "The latest from one of the most tenacious and principled journalists in American politics has arrived at just the right moment. This should be required reading among Democrats in Washington and across the country. " -Heather McGhee, New York Time bestselling author of The Sum of Us "As Joe Biden might put it, Going Big is a BFD-one with an urgent, essential, and ultimately hopeful message. If I could convince the president to read just one book at this perilous moment, this would be it. " -Jacob S. Hacker, Stanley Resor Professor of Political Science, Yale University, and co-author of Let Them Eat Tweets "Robert Kuttner is a modern Tom Paine who explains brilliantly the frightening crisis we face and then offers a remarkable, bracing, impassioned prescription for salvation and, indeed, renewal. Spreading the word about Going Big is absolutely imperative. " -Randall Kennedy, Michael R. Klein Professor, Harvard Law School, and author of New York Times 2021 Notable Book Say It Loud "Can Joe Biden and the Democrats take a page from Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to 'go big' and thereby reconstruct America and its politics? Robert Kuttner, the nation's most perceptive critic of the predatory capitalism that so bedevils us, answers with a resounding and insightful YES!" -Nelson Lichtenstein, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of State of the Union