Lyndon Johnson had his faults — arrogance, for instance — and he misread Vietnam. But he committed himself to the war on poverty and civil rights and got a slew of legislation passed that seemed unlikely before he began his push.
On the other hand, Barack Obama has managed so far to take something that seemed popular in the abstract — healthcare reform — and let the folks in Congress squeeze it until the last drop of toothpaste was washing down the sink, wiping away much of his public support on the issue in the process.
He could learn a thing or two from LBJ — so, please Mr. President, read this piece from The Daily Beast.
Hank Kalet 
LBJ? Seriously?You're not kidding?The man who expanded the welfare warfare state. The man who was so bad that even his own party walked away from him about reelection. The man who could mke Chicago politics look honest.Sorry, but if Obama is looking for inspiration, I wouldn't urge him to look there. At least Carter was honest. Incompetent, but honest.We need a true \”peace\” president. Let's start closing bases and bringing the boys and girls home. Use the savings to pay down the debt. We need an entrepreneurial president. Eliminate the capital gains tax; free up capital. Eliminate the corporate income tax; corporations will rush to HQ here in the USA. Besides, corporations don't pay taxes; people do. Eliminate price supports and payments NOT to grow stuff. Let's feed the world!We need a \”simple\” president. Simplify everything. We need people to focus on \”producing\”; not \”loophole finding\”. Tort reform. End the psuedo drug war. Shut down the FDA. Shut down the TSA. Shut down the Department of Education.We have a lot of work to do.
LBJ was the worst president in US history. While he may have \”misread\” the Vietnam War, he also totally mismanaged it resulting in the unnecessary deaths and woundings of hundreds of thousands of US and allied troops. His own SECDEF, MacNamamara, said that all knew the war was never going to be won as a limited engagement, and those who fought it all knew that LBJ would never do whatever it took to win. Obama is upping the ante in Afghanistan with no clear objectives or exit strategy.
Absolutely no question that LBJ was a war criminal and his involving us in a war in Vietnam was an abomination. Same goes for Bush, Bush is also a war criminal for involving us in an avoidable war in Iraq. Bush gets the title of WORST president ever, because he involved us in a bloody quagmire like LBJ but without doing any good. At least LBJ did some good with his historic legislation. I guess plausible arguments could be made for going into Afghanistan to root out the terrorists. But enough is enough, we have been there for 8 years. It's time to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and yes, start closing down some of those military bases. Close down Guantanamo, give it back to Cuba, the rightful owner and clear out totally from Cuban territory (we \”lease\” it from Cuba).With all that said, credit must be paid to LBJ for his historic civil rights legislation and for Medicare and Medicaid. Before Medicare and Medicaid, the elderly and poor had no medical coverage, so LBJ did do some good. However, his legacy is tarnished by the blood he has on his hands from Vietnam.
>LBJ worstimho not even close. Old Abe has that locked up far and away.>Medicare / MedicaidMedicaid, you could make and argument for as welfare for poor; not the Federal role to do it. But at least, it was limited.Medicare is welfare for rich retirees. Just like social security. Medicare complete blew up the medical marketplace with yet another intergenerational theft. No justification for it.
Oy, this libertarian thing against Lincoln.Abraham Lincoln said, \”this question of Slavery was more important than any other; indeed, so much more important has it become that no other national question can even get a hearing just at present.\” You can say many things about Lincoln but he was truly appalled, disgusted and reviled by slavery, that was genuine. By today's standards, I suppose he might be adjudged as a racist but give the man credit for abolishing slavery, he paid with his life.I know that there is a segment of the population that feels that Lincoln was a tyrant who usurped powers beyond the constituional limits of the presidency. Well, duh, there was an insurrection, a rebellion by domestic terrorists against the actual government of the US. Seven southern states declared secession from the Union even before Lincoln took office. Lincoln had to worry about losing the border states and about foreign powers becoming involved in our civil war. Some say we could have avoided war by buying the slaves from the South. That's BS, the burden of proof was on the South to abolish slavery all on its own, why should the North have to solve their problem? Buying the slaves would be legitimizing their act of treason and insurrection. Many other efforts were made for compromise but they all failed.Ron Paul, authors Thomas DiLorenzo, Andrew Napolitano and Lerone Bennett are part of the anti-Lincoln crowd. I guess they feel that it would be peachy keen to let the South go and have the CSA and USA coexist.Before the war, the VP of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens and Jefferson Davis said that the cause of secession was slavery. After the war they changed their tune.Did Lincoln, in suspending habeus corpus in prosecuting the war, violate the Constitution? Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution says, \”The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.\” Since the Civil War was a case of rebellion, the mere fact that Lincoln suspended habeus corpus is NOT unconstitutional. \”On April 27, 1861, habeas corpus was suspended by President Abraham Lincoln in Maryland and parts of midwestern states, including southern Indiana during the American Civil War. Lincoln did so in response to riots, local militia actions, and the threat that the border slave state of Maryland would secede from the Union, leaving the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., surrounded by hostile territory. Lincoln was also motivated by requests by generals to set up military courts to rein in \”Copperheads\” or Peace Democrats, and those in the Union who supported the Confederate cause.\” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HabeusIt should also be noted that Jefferson Davis suspended habeus corpus in the Confederacy, AND imposed martial law. I would have to say that, under the terms of the Constitution itself, Lincoln’s suspension of habeus corpus was not unconstitutional.