October 19, 2007 (LPAC)--Today's Washington Post freaks out in a page 1 article, about the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin has legitimately adopted Franklin D. Roosevelt as "an American to admire." Peter Finn of the Post writes from Russia:

"FDR, according to a consistent story line here, tamed power-hungry tycoons to save his country from the Great Depression. He restored his people's spirits while leading the United States for 12 years and spearheaded the struggle against 'outside enemies'.... Translation: President Vladimir Putin rescued an enfeebled Russia from the chaos of the 1990s, banished or imprisoned dangerous billionaires, and regained respect for his newly enriched country on the world stage."

The anti-FDR Washington Post rants that the whole comparison is just designed to argue that Putin should remain as President, just as Roosevelt ran for a third and fourth term. Nevertheless, reporter Finn, despite himself, reveals not only that Putin and Russia have adopted FDR as their own model, but that the United States and Russia want to cooperate, which is the United States of FDR.

The article reports that on Thursday, when asked about his vision for Russia, Putin invoked the New Deal, saying that "Roosevelt laid out his plan for the country's development for decades in advance" and that he often battled the elites.

However, "at the end of the day, it turned out that the implementation of that plan benefited ordinary citizens and the elites, and eventually brought the United States to the position it is in today."

The article also reports that on Sunday, the state TV station RTR ran a 90-minute documentary on FDR. Finn reports that "FDR has long held a special place in Russian hearts. He is known here as the distant ally whose massive aid shipments helped Soviet forces turn back hordes of Nazi invaders in what people here call the Great Patriotic War."

At a conference held earlier this year at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, to mark the 125th anniversary of FDR's birth, Vladislav Surkov, Putin's deputy chief of staff, said: "You could say that Roosevelt was our military ally in the 20th century and he is becoming our ideological ally in the 21st. I think the ideas and emotions motivating our society today are amazingly similar to the ones that motivated the Americans in the era of Franklin Roosevelt."

The article concludes by quoting Putin in his State of the Nation address last year, "The toes of some people are being stepped on and are going to be stepped on." Finn notes that this line came from one of Roosevelt's fireside chats in 1934.