Hillary Clinton is no LBJ

Much was made this past week about Hillary Clinton's perceived comments about Martin Luther King's role in getting Civil Rights legislation passed. While I find Clinton implication that Barack Obama is nothing more than a erstwhile dreamer offensive, I find her trying to liken herself to the political and legislative genius that was Lyndon Johnson even more offensive.

Thursday night I appeared on the Inside Slant show on 1460 AM in Jacksonville. The host Scott Gaillard asked me point blank about the Martin Luther King episode this past week, and I stated while I felt the entire thing was overblown, the fact that Hillary Clinton with seven years legislative experience and having the failure of getting Health Care reform through a Congress which 58% of the members were from her own party showed she couldn't in good conscience wrap herself in LBJ's legacy.

In 1964 the Congress as it had for much of the the past thirty two years was controlled by reactionary southerners. An irony of the New Deal sweep was that it produced some of the most conservative chairman in House Committees we have ever had. Chairmen like Howard Smith of Virginia (House Rules), Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, Senator John McClellan of Arkansas and many many more. The Congress was run by Southerners committed to maintaining segregation at all costs, even if it involved violence. Lyndon Johnson had partially come from that background. While FDR was alive he appeared to be a committed New Dealer and had liberals in Texas, particularly in his native Hill Country thinking he was a worthy heir to Maury Maverick (Mayor of San Antonio, Congressman.) But after FDR's death, LBJ became himself a reactionary conservative allied with Texas' oil and business interests and with their help he stole the 1948 Senate Election. As Majority Leader Johnson allied himself with the Southerners until he decided to run for President at which case he began identifying himself as a "Westerner." In other words much like Bill Clinton he was a chameleon, dedicated to little more than his own political survival.

When JFK's murder catapulted LBJ to the White House he made Civil Rights a priority for his national constituency. But unlike Hillary Clinton's failed and arrogant approach to Health Care reform, Johnson worked the legislation through his allies including the great Hubert H. Humphrey in the Senate. He used every ounce of his political skill to break the Southern filibuster and control of the committees and along with the inspiration and public support created by Martin Luther King's movement, he got the most momentous legislation of a generation passed.

In contrast Hillary Clinton most significant achievement to date was pointing out a right wing conspiracy existed against her husband and voting for the Iraq War without reading the pre-war intelligence. Hillary Clinton is no LBJ.