Kevin Rennie: Expect Eleanor Roosevelt to have a role in 2016 presidential race

Eleanor Roosevelt is enjoying a renaissance of attention and affection that may propel her onto the $20 bill. There are other practical uses for Roosevelt’s deep legacy, and some will arise in the 2016 presidential campaign.

On the wings of the 2014 Ken Burns documentary “The Roosevelts,” Mrs. Roosevelt is emerging as the favorite in the movement to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Balloting and polling suggests the remarkable niece of Theodore Roosevelt and wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt is the top choice of those with an opinion.

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) introduced legislation to start the process, ridding our currency of the man who was a cruel advocate for the removing (by force) Indian tribes from Appalachia and forcing them west along what became known as the Trail of Tears. The sooner we see the back of him, the better.

Eleanor Roosevelt, a Democrat, was the original modern first lady and the longest serving (1933-45). She had created and enjoyed an independent life in politics and public service long before her husband was elected president.

Hillary Clinton has spent decades soldering herself to Roosevelt’s legacy of sacrifice and activism. In 2012, former President Bill Clinton confirmed that his wife “was known to commune with Eleanor on a regular basis.” Those conversations were obviously one-way, and the first time Roosevelt failed to enlighten an admirer.

The weaving of Clinton campaign myths might soon make the truth impenetrable. But Hillary Clinton shares few of Roosevelt’s many virtues.

Roosevelt was warm and generous. She craved an anonymity that allowed her unfettered contact with the world. She liked the press and even wrote a popular newspaper column, breaking all precedents by holding frequent press conferences. None of that describes Clinton.

Born into privilege, Roosevelt preferred modest, often austere living arrangements. Most of the time when she was at the Roosevelt home in Hyde Park, N.Y., Roosevelt lived in a small stone house away from the ancestral home of her husband. Clinton, once described as a Methodist who thinks she should live like an Episcopal bishop, appears to have a taste for luxury.

The Clinton entitlement is what FDR was referring to when in 1936 he condemned “economic royalists” carving “new dynasties.” Today he would have included a former secretary of state who charges $300,000 an hour to give a speech. Eleanor Roosevelt would have been appalled.

Roosevelt wrote: “With age has come … a kind of interest in human beings which allows for no bitterness toward any person.” The famously grudge-carrying Clinton, though older than Roosevelt when she wrote that, has not enjoyed such an epiphany.

In this partisan age, Republicans running for president could profit by learning from Roosevelt as they prepare to strip the bark off each other. She was not perfect, but she made the world a better place. Her kind attention lifted the spirits of the nation in some of its most sustained and darkest hours. She believed in our ability to improve ourselves and assist others. She revealed her courage by taking dangerous trips into war zones during World War II. No embellishment was needed on her exploits.

Roosevelt did not cling to slights and grievances. She could be a bit of an easy mark for Utopian schemes, but overall she understood the nature of privation and believed in our ability to solve intractable problems. She was an optimist. There’s a reason Ronald Reagan was a Roosevelt Democrat for much of his adult life.

Eleanor Roosevelt knew politics at every level. In her newspaper column, she left an observation for the ages: “What strange things the desire to be President makes men do.” Women, too.

This story was originally published May 7, 2015 at 10:02 AM with the headline "Kevin Rennie: Expect Eleanor Roosevelt to have a role in 2016 presidential race."