As Obama stands poised to take office, discussions of his first 100 days. For many, there are several similarities to those first days of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his new deal, and the problems Roosevelt inherited. Like Obama, Roosevelt came into office during a crushed economy. Health care was somewhat compromised as more people lost their jobs, their homes. The outgoing administration -- Herbert Hoover -- was largely disliked.

But during Roosevelt's first 100 days, many changes were undertaken that affection the national economy as a whole.

Credited with having improved the lives of those who suffered from the Great Depression, the bedrock of Roosevelt's New Deal was the idea that only the power of the federal government could lift the nation out of the devastating economic collapse.

Then the governor of New York, Roosevelt was nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate on July 2, 1932, just 20 months after Black Friday and the advent of the Great Depression. It was in his acceptance speech that Roosevelt told his party his promise to the nation.

"I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people," he said. "...This is more than a political campaign; it is a call to arms. Give me your help, not to win votes alone, but to win in this crusade to restore America to its own people."

Roosevelt won by a landslide four months and five days later.

It was during his campaign, Roosevelt spoke those now famous words: "What America needs now is a good, stiff drink."

Twenty days after his inauguration on March 23, 1933, Roosevelt signed into law the Cullen-Harrison Act, a landmark bill that essentially reversed the much-hated Volstead Act, which banned alcohol sales, manufacturing and transportation. The bill was one of many economic initiatives that came of the first New Deal that aimed to stimulate the economy through the passage of banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs and agricultural programs. The New Deal also led to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Later, in 1935, a second New Deal expanded the initiatives of the first such endeavor. In this economic push came the creation of the Social Security Act, the work relief program Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration and various other programs meant to protect unions and aid tenant farmers and migrant workers. The second New Deal also led to the creation of the Federal National Mortgage Association, more commonly known as the now fallen Fannie Mae.

Seven years after its inception, in 1939, the New Deal had essentially run its course. At the time, New Deal programs helped make better those in the nation who were struck down from the Great Depression. But the New Deal also helped expand the federal government's role in the economic and social affairs of the nation, a role we see daily through various aid programs as well as the controversial bail out endeavors recently enacted by Congress for the banking, mortgage and auto industries, including Fannie Mae itself.