As an initial thought, though, one wonders if the White House didn’t reach too far in trying to make an analogy between what turned out in the end to be a rather bland policy speech and TR’s 1910 “New Nationalism” speech, which set the ground for his 1912 campaign for the President and the formation of the Progressive (“Bull Moose”) Party…

What Roosevelt was asking for then, wasn’t just “social justice,” but a sublimation of the individual to the state, or as he referred to it, the nation, and a concentration of power in the hands of the Executive. Sadly, we’ve seen a lot of that over the past 100 years and the results haven’t exactly been all that great. I have no doubt, though, that TR, with his fascination with the myth of war-as-adventure would very much enjoy exercising the enhanced foreign policy and war making powers that the President has acquired since he held the office, especially since he was lobbying for American involvement in the foolish European war that become World War One almost as soon as it began in 1914. In fact, one can say that America may have been fortunate that TR lost the Presidential election in 1912, and declined to run in 1916, although one can’t really say that the Wilsonian take on the war was ultimately any better.