Paging FDR

Phillip Egge sends along this piece about yesterday's assertion by Sen. John Warner (R-Va., but better remembered as an ex-Mr. Elizabeth Taylor) that George W. Bush should engage in "fireside chats" a la FDR:

The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sunday suggested that President Bush use an FDR-style presentation to update people on progress in the war in Iraq.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., recalled that during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt often went on the radio in "fireside chats" to explain to the nation in detail the conduct of the war in Europe and Asia.

"I think it would be to Bush's advantage," said Warner, who served in the Navy during the end of World War II and during the Korean war.

"It would bring him closer to the people, dispel some of this concern that understandably our people have, about the loss of life and limb, the enormous cost of this war to the American public," he said.

More here. Bush will be giving a speech about the war from Annapolis on Wednesday. Personally, I'd prefer to see him take a page from Fiorello LaGuardia and read the comics over the radio (are they still looking for Howard Stern replacements when the shock jock goes satellite in '06?). Or a non-budgetary cue from LBJ and start picking his dog up by the ears. But an honest accounting of the war, in whatever format, would be a nice change of pace.