by CODY LYON
But there is another side that must be addressed with some sort of legislative mandate because if the auto world of Detroit is allowed to fail and sink behind the veil of protection that bankruptcy provides, the potential for great human tragedy becomes increasingly real for large groups of vulnerable Americans.

Now make me do it.

FDR told activists in his own party, "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it."

Franklin Roosevelt was also famous for not staying bought, after he took huge amounts of money from the special interests of his day.  Modern politicians of either party would never do this after accepting thinly veiled bribes.  They stay bought, because they know the next election is coming up, and people will find ways to be nice to them after they are out of office and don't need to worry about campaign finance laws.

I voted for Obama, but I don't think he can fix everything unless Americans tell him how.  He'll have good advisors, but unless advisors read new things they may recycle the same old ideas.  I think the Democrats have better ideas than the Republicans, but I don't think they're quite ready for what's coming to Americans in the next few years.

Could this march to madness have been stopped in 2003 if highly regarded public figures had taken unequivocal stands against it? If Colin Powell, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and others had publicly supported the anti-war effort before the invasion could it have stopped the war machine? I have just lost any respect for David Gergen. He seemed like a even-handed commentator and a man of public spirit. Here's his interview on CNN:

Start of transcript:

Meanwhile, as the nation mourns the death of former President Gerald Ford, we are now learning he strongly disagreed with President Bush on the war in Iraq. And in a never before published interview, he bluntly called the administration's justification a big mistake.

CNN's Brian Todd has been following that story all day. Brian, what's the scoop?