Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Before we start feeling all warm and fuzzy about Teddy Roosevelt...

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Before we start feeling all warm and fuzzy about Teddy Roosevelt...:

Before we start feeling all warm and fuzzy about Teddy Roosevelt...

by Mike Klonsky

Let's remember that Teddy Roosevelt, eulogized in Pres. Obama's Osawatomie speech on "New Nationalism," Tuesday, was at his best a tame economic reformer and at his worst, a racist, imperialist war monger. Publicly, Roosevelt spoke out against racism and discrimination at times, but also believed in social-Darwinism, the philosophical rock bed of white supremacy.

Here are a few of TR's thoughts on race and politics the Obama failed to mention: