Lyndon Baines Johnson was born 100 years ago today. Besides Franklin Roosevelt, his record as a progressive Democrat is unsurpassed. Thanks to his leadership and passion, Congress enacted Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, Head Start, the Job Corps, legal services for the poor, and countless other pocketbook measures that helped millions out of poverty and reinforced a secure middle class. And Johnson took immense risks to pass the three landmark civil-rights laws. It is not an exaggeration to say that without Johnson's leadership, Barack Obama would not be accepting the Democratic nomination for president this week.
But here in Denver, where podium time has been found for a mind-numbing array of obscure speakers, the day will pass without ceremony or acknowledgment. Why? In part because for many Democrats, Johnson's greatness on domestic achievements has an asterisk -- the Vietnam War, a divisive debacle too reminiscent of the Iraq War.
Interestingly, the decision to ignore Johnson was made by Barack Obama himself. Sen. Tom Harkin, a huge admirer of Johnson's War on Poverty and the rest of the Great Society, told me that several months ago he contacted the LBJ presidential library in Austin. Harkin arranged to have a short, 11-minute film made about LBJ and the Great Society as a centenary tribute. He pitched it personally to Obama, who was not keen on the idea. They cut the film to seven minutes. Still too long, said the convention planners; and finally to five minutes. It will air, with no fanfare, reportedly during non-prime time Thursday, not even LBJ's actual centenary. No official announcement has yet been made.
What's the problem here, people? Do they not want to be reminded of a truly bold progressive Democratic president? Or is the reminder of the civil-rights struggle not the message this surprisingly bleached-out convention wants to send? Is Michelle Obama's happy memory of the Brady Bunch more comforting to whites than the memory of LBJ and Dr. King, whose "I have Dream" speech was delivered 45 years ago this week? Or just the bad taste of the Vietnam War, which epitomized the Democratic divisiveness that this convention desperately hopes to avoid? Maybe all of the above.
Well, LBJ deserved better, most of all from Barack Obama, who as a president who could be -- and must be -- as brave and bold as Lyndon Johnson.
--Robert Kuttner
