"Mr. Obama’s critics also often fault him for failing to twist arms in Congress as effectively as Johnson, who has been mythologized as pushing the "Great Society" agenda into law by sheer force of will. In reality, Johnson’s historic legislative accomplishments were enabled by enormous Democratic majorities in Congress, especially after the 1964 election. When those majorities diminished, so too did his influence, as Mr. Obama himself pointed out this year. For these reasons, the frequent comparisons made between the two presidents are unfair. Beyond the changes in how politics works over the last 50 years, the circumstances were never as favorable for the current president, who took office with more modest demand for a liberal agenda, smaller Congressional majorities and a far more unified opposition party. Unsurprisingly, those constraints breed frustration among Obama supporters and puzzlement among observers who wonder why he can’t do what L.B.J. did. At some point, however, they will come to realize that Obama can’t change public opinion or push bills through Congress by sheer force of will – and neither could Johnson."
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Presidents of the United StatesPoliticians from TexasMembers of the United States SenateUnited States presidential candidates, 1968United States presidential candidates, 1964
Original Language: English
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Brendan Nyhan in Why Comparisons Between L.B.J. and Obama Can Mislead (22 May 2014)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson
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