Reply #20: the OP

[ruggerson]

made note of some of the similarities she saw between what FDR and Obama faced in office, with "war" being one of the parallels she employs.

My point is that the "wars" couldn't be more different, thus, imho, it's not much of a historical analogy.

As you note, in these two current "wars," we, or an ally of ours, were never even attacked by a sovereign nation. Plus, Obama inherited both conflicts, Roosevelt did not.

Perhaps a slightly closer comparison is with Eisenhower and Korea. Eisenhower, like Obama, inherited a very unpopular war which, in the campaign, he had promised to end.

Even that, however, is a stretch, since North Korea had been the aggressor. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we are the aggressors.