Since the financial crisis precipitated a global economic melt-down, political pundits, historians, and the candidates themselves have made numerous comparisons between recent events and the Great Depression of 1929. Joe Biden’s slip-up on when exactly the Depression took place pales in comparison to John McCain’s far fetched claim that Obama’s tax plans are similar to President Herbert Hoover’s, under whose watch the Depression started.

McCain’s allegations have oscillated wildly from accusing Obama of imitating the Republican Hoover’s economic policies that deepened the crisis to accusing him of being a “socialist.” If indeed “Hoovervilles,” settlements of the homeless unemployed, spring up in America again, the country would have to thank George W. Bush for them. However, as the distinguished historian of the Depression era and FDR, William E. Leuchtenberg, has recently pointed out Bush is no Hoover and to call him that would be to insult Hoover’s historical memory. Hoover was not incapable but mired in Republican economic orthodoxy that prevented him from