Deal or no deal?

Economy: As Obama takes office, economics historians warn against reliving past follies | Mark Bergin

Associated Press/Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Amid the dark days of a stumbling economy, millions of Americans found light and hope in the soaring promises of a newly elected Democrat. Could this master of rhetoric animate his grand vision in the lives of a hurting populace? Could he make good on the flowery oration that had so inspired voters throughout the campaign?

The year was 1933, the president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the context America's Great Depression. In his three-plus terms, Roosevelt responded to economic pain with a reinvention of the role of American government. The simple defense of liberty gave way to guarantees of security, and a publicly financed safety net was born.

Three quarters of a century later, the nation has once again laid its financial hardship at the feet of a Democratic visionary. Millions hope that Barack Obama will prove a modern-day FDR—that he will wash away economic challenges with a wave of government programs.