By Patrick J. Buchanan

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste,” sayeth Rahm.

Opportunistic and cynical, yes. But also savvy political counsel that transformational presidents have always followed.

FDR exploited the Depression to launch his New Deal, bring an end to a Republican hegemony of seven decades and make Democrats the majority party, until Richard Nixon picked the lock.

While the debate is endless over whether the New Deal ended the Depression or caused it to endure until World War II spending pulled us out of the ditch, few deny that FDR left a monumental legacy.