Dick Polman: Why Obama can't pull an LBJ
[Dick Polman is an Inquirer National Political Columnist.]
As a political junkie who got hooked in the late '60s, I never thought I'd see the day when people would resurrect Lyndon B. Johnson and cite him as a role model.
Back in the day, few thought well of LBJ. He got waist deep in the big muddy of Vietnam, and his sonorous TV demeanor made Ed Sullivan look like Elvis Presley. On the other hand, when it came time to get Medicare passed in '65, he had a great inside game. He sweet-talked some of the congressmen, and smacked the rest of them upside the head - the carrot, the stick, whatever it took.
That was LBJ at his best. Which is why some esteemed commentators are urging President Obama to channel the big fella in the health-care debate. The advice is understandable. Health-care reform is not just an issue; it's a political metaphor that may well determine whether Obama succeeds or fails as president.
His quest to fix the dysfunctional system is grinding through five congressional committees, and it's tough to tell who's in charge. Obama has set broad goals (promote choice, cover the uninsured, control costs), but he has set no specifics on how to achieve those goals. Instead, he says he is waiting "to see what emerges from these committees," few of which seem to agree on anything. Sometimes it seems as if we're all hostage to the whims of a Montana senator named Baucus, whose entire state has half a million fewer people than the city of Philadelphia.
Hence, the call for Obama to seize his "Johnson moment." Doris Kearns Goodwin, the LBJ scholar, wants Obama "to take charge, to draw lines, to pressure, to threaten, to cajole," to basically herd the cats on the Hill. Peter Fenn, a Democratic strategist, has declared, "It's time for a little LBJ," with "some serious arm-twisting for good measure." Dean Baker, who runs a liberal think tank, invokes LBJ and urges Obama to "get the list of every hardball nasty political ploy" that Johnson ever used.
These people are dreaming.
Johnson was a creature of Capitol Hill who had logged 23 years as a lawmaker, including a productive stint as Senate majority leader. He knew his colleagues well, he knew when to flatter or frighten. Many owed him favors; as president, he often called in his markers. Most important, Democratic lawmakers feared him. The current crop of Democrats do not fear Obama. He worked among them in the Senate for only four years and never gained any leverage, LBJ-style.
Lacking LBJ's inside moves, Obama has gone with his outside game. His grassroots political arm, Organizing for America, has run TV ads targeting red-state Democratic senators - such as Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana - urging them to support sweeping health-care reform. These Democrats aren't exactly quaking in their boots. Conrad says, "It's fine with me." Landrieu says, "It really doesn't matter to me literally one way or the other."
Maybe LBJ could have knocked their heads together, and ordered them not to worry about deepening the deficit. But I wonder about that. In Obama's defense, LBJ never had to deal with the kind of fiscal headaches that persist today. When Johnson was twisting arms for his Great Society agenda, the economy was booming, General Motors and other corporate behemoths were alive and well, and banks were banks. His budget issues weren't nearly as dire as those currently afflicting Obama...
Read entire article at Philadelphia Inquirer
As a political junkie who got hooked in the late '60s, I never thought I'd see the day when people would resurrect Lyndon B. Johnson and cite him as a role model.
Back in the day, few thought well of LBJ. He got waist deep in the big muddy of Vietnam, and his sonorous TV demeanor made Ed Sullivan look like Elvis Presley. On the other hand, when it came time to get Medicare passed in '65, he had a great inside game. He sweet-talked some of the congressmen, and smacked the rest of them upside the head - the carrot, the stick, whatever it took.
That was LBJ at his best. Which is why some esteemed commentators are urging President Obama to channel the big fella in the health-care debate. The advice is understandable. Health-care reform is not just an issue; it's a political metaphor that may well determine whether Obama succeeds or fails as president.
His quest to fix the dysfunctional system is grinding through five congressional committees, and it's tough to tell who's in charge. Obama has set broad goals (promote choice, cover the uninsured, control costs), but he has set no specifics on how to achieve those goals. Instead, he says he is waiting "to see what emerges from these committees," few of which seem to agree on anything. Sometimes it seems as if we're all hostage to the whims of a Montana senator named Baucus, whose entire state has half a million fewer people than the city of Philadelphia.
Hence, the call for Obama to seize his "Johnson moment." Doris Kearns Goodwin, the LBJ scholar, wants Obama "to take charge, to draw lines, to pressure, to threaten, to cajole," to basically herd the cats on the Hill. Peter Fenn, a Democratic strategist, has declared, "It's time for a little LBJ," with "some serious arm-twisting for good measure." Dean Baker, who runs a liberal think tank, invokes LBJ and urges Obama to "get the list of every hardball nasty political ploy" that Johnson ever used.
These people are dreaming.
Johnson was a creature of Capitol Hill who had logged 23 years as a lawmaker, including a productive stint as Senate majority leader. He knew his colleagues well, he knew when to flatter or frighten. Many owed him favors; as president, he often called in his markers. Most important, Democratic lawmakers feared him. The current crop of Democrats do not fear Obama. He worked among them in the Senate for only four years and never gained any leverage, LBJ-style.
Lacking LBJ's inside moves, Obama has gone with his outside game. His grassroots political arm, Organizing for America, has run TV ads targeting red-state Democratic senators - such as Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana - urging them to support sweeping health-care reform. These Democrats aren't exactly quaking in their boots. Conrad says, "It's fine with me." Landrieu says, "It really doesn't matter to me literally one way or the other."
Maybe LBJ could have knocked their heads together, and ordered them not to worry about deepening the deficit. But I wonder about that. In Obama's defense, LBJ never had to deal with the kind of fiscal headaches that persist today. When Johnson was twisting arms for his Great Society agenda, the economy was booming, General Motors and other corporate behemoths were alive and well, and banks were banks. His budget issues weren't nearly as dire as those currently afflicting Obama...