In 1935, some of Roosevelt’s advisers were fretting over the rising power of Louisiana Senator Huey Long and California doctor Charles Townsend; they wanted him to come out swinging against his potential challengers.  They particularly hoped he would take the political implications of Townsend seriously, even though many laughed at the his plan for old age insurance. 

As usual, though, Roosevelt was unalarmed.  He sensed that the protest movements were off in their timing, at least as far as elections were concerned.  He viewed Townsend, Coughlin and Long as a “free side-show” that would run its course, having flared up in 1935. 

“Public psychology, he said, ‘cannot, because of human weakness, be attuned for long periods of time to a constant repetition of the highest note in the scale… There is another thought which is involved in continuous leadership,’ the President went on. 

People ‘tire of seeing the same name day after day in the important headlines of the papers, and the same voice night after night over the radio.  For example, if since last November I had tried to keep up the pace of 1933 and 1934, the inevitable histrionics of the new actors, Long and Coughlin and Johnson, would have turned the eyes of the audience away from the main drama itself!’  But Roosevelt agreed that the time would come for a ‘new stimulation of united American action,’ and he would be ready."

About that "Obama fatigue"... it's about time the man went on a vacation, right?

As MJ Rosenberg said the other day, McCain is faring well in the polls precisely because he couldn't get any media attention.  If he had, people would have noticed his colossal flubs and doubted his competence.  Let's let Mac have some acreage on the magazine covers, and give people a breather from nonstop Obama.  That seems to be Barack's strategy, and FDR would approve.

(Source: James M. Burns, Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox, 214)