RIP Studs Terkel
A great man, and a living embodiment of the American liberal tradition in every sense. I’m just sorry he didn’t live to see the election — at least I hope I’m sorry he didn’t live to see it.
I’m sure the testimonials will be pouring over the next few days, but we’ll start with how I got the news, via Dkos diarist NuisanceIndustry and an excellent remembrance of the old rabble rouser, who was a radical because he was a “premature” champion of things that are now liberal and sometimes even conservative orthodoxy early, by John Nichols at AlterNet.
Here’s Studs talking about another well known writer and activist from Chicago….
“Obama can’t be a moderate!” Studs said in one of his last interviews. “He’s got to remember where he comes from! Obama, he has got to be pushed!….
“I’d ask Obama, do you plan to follow up on the program of the New Deal of FDR? I’d tell him, ‘Don’t fool around on a few issues, such as health care. We’ve got bigger work to do! Read FDR’s second inaugural address!’” he told a Chicago reporter. “The free market has to be regulated. And the New Deal did that and they provided jobs. The government has to. The WPA provided jobs. We have got to get back to that. We need more reg-u-la-tion.”
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