President Obama and the Echoes of LBJ

From the moment Barack Hussein Obama strode to the podium in Boston that July evening in 2004, he struck a chord with America. One of the hallmarks of the magical ascension of a little known State Senator from Illinois to the highest office in the land has been the ability of Mr. Obama to communicate his vision with clarity, passion and conviction. Over the past several months, at critical junctures, Barack Obama has had to stand and deliver – in Philadelphia his speech on race was one of the defining moments of his campaign. In Denver on the 45th Anniversary of “I have a Dream”; Barack Obama rallied the troops, and set the tone that his would not be the same doomed effete Democratic campaign of years past.

Yet the magic of campaign oratory which is often preaching to the choir, have been challenged by the realities of governance which often means saying different things to different audiences all at the same time. As President, Barack Obama has delivered significant speeches - in Egypt he laid out his vision of a new order in the Middle East, and during the late summer with Health Care lying in the balance, he spoke in strident terms on the importance passing that legislation. Yet many question the effectiveness of those efforts. For all their import, and hype, they were not considered game changers. After the Cairo speech, Columnist George Will sniffed that President Obama was “adored, but ignored”. Recently in a New York Times piece titled “The President Whose Words Once Soared” President Obama’s inability to impact the local elections in Virginia and New Jersey were cited as examples of his diminishing capacity to affect change with his oratory.

To be fair, Barack Obama inherited an unprecedented mess, a country whose global reputation was tarnished; we were vilified for allowing our viral investment instruments to infect the global economy, our mismanagement of two wars, and our failure to lead on issues like global warming, and green economy. But now, President Obama no longer has the luxury of blaming this quagmire on his predecessor. In the summer of 2008 many in the Democratic Party quietly were having “buyer’s remorse” as the body blows of the McCain Campaign begin to chip away at the Obama aura. Now more than a year later, the attacks that came from the McCain camp, pale in comparison from what seems to be a smoldering discontent within the ranks of the Democratic Party. For months left leaning pundits like Arianna Huffington, have wrung their hands on the pace of change, questioning the Obama Administration approach to health care, Don’t ask Don’t tell, the closing of Gitmo, and the “sacking” of Green expert of Van Jones. More recently both the NAACP and the Congressional Black Caucus have grumbled about Obama Administration efforts on behalf of the African American Community.

Is the honeymoon over? Has the “Yes we Can” magic of 2008 worn off already? Perhaps or perhaps not. Barack Obama in my opinion has oft been underestimated as a shrewd and calculating political operator; even now with the help of his friend former Virginia Governor Tim Keane, he is reshaping the Democratic National Committee in his own image. With a nod toward 2010, the Obama team has already informed many conservative Democrats that they will be rewarded for their support for health care with the vast resources of his political arm “Organizing for America”. Yet dark clouds now appear over the once confidence visage of team Obama. Perception is reality, and while below the radar the Obama Administration has pushed through several progressive agenda items, the old political bugaboos of jobs and war lurk like a precancerous cell on the verge of metastasizing.

During the campaign Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden said in the debates that “Past is Prologue”. How right he was. The question which presidential past will reduplicate itself over the next few years? The Obama victory harkened comparisons to past Presidents Abe Lincoln, John F. Kennedy and Franklin Roosevelt - but now the name Lyndon Johnson is beginning to creep its way into the conversation. Not so good. President Lyndon Johnson’s management of the Vietnam War which forced cuts in domestic programs, created space for a progressive insurgency within the Democratic Party that ultimately forced President abrogate his Presidency by not running for a second term. That intra party fracture, coupled with a third party candidate George Wallace, handed the White House over to a Republican Party that had been humiliated only four years earlier.

It is clear that Barack Obama would least like to be compared to the doomed Johnson Administration of 1968. Yet, this is the historical context that President Barack Obama faces as he makes his case for sending more troops to Afghanistan tomorrow night. Tomorrow with a nation weary of war, and his own base questioning him on several fronts, President Barack Hussein Obama will need harness all of his oratory skills to sale this war to this nation. Simply put, he needs to get it right.

Time after time, when Barack Obama strode to the microphone, the stakes were high, he had to hit a home run, ground rule doubles, or warning track fly balls would not do. Time after time he succeeded. Tomorrow night is one of those nights – President Obama must hit the long ball. While it is clear that he is committed to a troop increase, the President needs to include an exit strategy that is cogent, workable, and believable. President Obama must tell the American public that at the end of the day, he plans to end this war, even if it is over the objections of his military and war hawks in Congress. With the echoes of Lyndon Johnson ringing in his ears, President Barack Obama, the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner has to end this war in no uncertain terms or face the reality this war may end his Presidency.