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Monday, January 7, 2008

I Agree

posted by on January 7 at 13:10 PM

One of the super-hugest Obama fans in my life just emailed to say: “This is a really weird thing for Clinton to say.”

He’s talking about this:

Clinton rejoined the running argument over hope and “false hope” in an interview in Dover this afternoon, reminding Fox’s Major Garrett that while Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on behalf of civil rights, President Lyndon Johnson was the one who got the legislation passed.

Clinton was asked about Obama’s rejoinder that there’s something vaguely un-American about dismissing hopes as false, and that it doesn’t jibe with the careers of figures like like John F. Kennedy and King.

“Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act,” Clinton said. “It took a president to get it done.”

Clinton didn’t explicitly compare herself to Johnson, or Obama to King. But it seems an odd example for the argument between rhetoric and action, as there’s little doubt which figure’s place in history and the American imagination is more secure.

“The power of that dream became real in people’s lives because we had a president” capable of action, Clinton said.

Here’s what she was responding to, in part:

RSS icon Comments

1

I was at the big speech in Washington DC, back when my dad carried me on his shoulders to hear MLK Jr. give that speech.

Sen Clinton is no MLK Jr. Not gonna fly.

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 7, 2008 1:15 PM
2

You mean Obama is no King, Will?

Posted by hunh? | January 7, 2008 1:25 PM
3

So, Clinton wants to be the next LBJ? I can picture it now ... The year is 2012, and Clinton decides not to seek a second term due to pressure over the continuing quagmire in Iraq and her failed healthcare plan.

Posted by Mahtli69 | January 7, 2008 1:27 PM
4

Will, I think Clinton said she wants to be LBJ, not MLK Jr.

She's growing the jowls to imitate LBJ, at least. LBJ received staff and reporters while pooping - would she?

Posted by tomasyalba | January 7, 2008 1:28 PM
5

I was at that speech with my dad, too, Will.

Posted by Mitt Romney | January 7, 2008 1:28 PM
6

LBJ also used to defecate in the presence of individuals trying to convince him to support legislation he didn't like. It begs the question - what are the scatological differences between HRC and Obama?

Posted by Hernandez | January 7, 2008 1:29 PM
7

The 1965 Civil Rights Act was the most important piece of legislation in the last century. LBJ and the Democratic party paid in blood for its passage as we lost the south for a generation (or more.) LBJ deserves your fucking respect, you ungrateful youngsters.

Posted by Big Sven | January 7, 2008 1:33 PM
8

Of course LBJ deserves respect. But, in all honesty, chances are the CRA wouldn't have even been a possibility without the work of MLK,Jr. and other activists.

I sort of wish Hillary would just stop talking.

Posted by Michigan Matt | January 7, 2008 1:43 PM
9

I'm starting to feel sorry for Hillary.

Posted by ahava | January 7, 2008 1:44 PM
10

LBJ was a vicious son of a bitch, and I say that with all due respect.

However, statistics point to Brown v. and the Civil Rights Act as being pretty much ineffective in bringing about real change. Compare progress made after that decision was made and legislation passed vs. progress made when King and other civil rights leaders staged marches and sit-ins. Clean cut men and women getting attacked by dogs and fire hoses effected more change than LBJ.

Posted by keshmeshi | January 7, 2008 1:45 PM
11

what does scatological mean? is it like sociological?

Posted by linus | January 7, 2008 1:55 PM
12

Hey! Hey!
L! B! J!
How many kids have you killed today?

Posted by sprizee | January 7, 2008 2:05 PM
13

Will - you don't look 47! So you're suggesting because you were there and presumably heard and understood MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech (at the age of 3) that you're equipped to apply the Sen. Bentsen JFK/Quayle analogy to Hillary. It's an inapt analogy, but should further your anti-HRC cred with the masses.

Posted by I HAVE A SCREAM... | January 7, 2008 2:12 PM
14

@11 - Scatalogical = Shitty...

Posted by O.E.D. SORTA | January 7, 2008 2:15 PM
15

OMG! HRC is in a freefall downward spiral. I can't believe the candidate that everyone (including an Obama supporter like me) thought was the epitome of a disciplined politician would say such a thing. At the very least, she needs to get some sleep.

Posted by Bill LaBorde | January 7, 2008 2:45 PM
16

Everyone forgets that nobody liked LBJ, especially when he was President, and he was always the accidental President.

People liked Ford better than LBJ.

Yes, I was born in 1960. Unlike most people my age, I don't listen to the same music I heard in high school, and we tend to live to 100 or more in my family.

Sen Clinton is neither LBJ, nor MLK Jr. Although her position on the war is kind of LBJ reminiscent - and stupid.

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 7, 2008 2:45 PM
17

oh, and no, the only memory I have is a confused feeling of being in a really big crowd with my mom and dad. But they did take me.

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 7, 2008 2:51 PM
18

LBJ? Accidental president??? Really!

In 1964, Johnson (v. Goldwater) easily won the Presidency, carrying 44 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As of 2007, Johnson's 22.6 percentage point-margin of victory in the popular vote is the fourth-largest such margin in Presidential election history (after the margins of the 1920 election, 1936 election, and 1972 election).

Posted by RHETT ORACLE | January 7, 2008 3:04 PM
19

Please tell me Hillary isn't going to lift up her shirt and show us the scar from a gallbladder surgery.

On a more serious note, I always felt that the Civil Rights Act was passed largely because of the assassination of Kennedy. It was JFK's bill, initially, and I don't think it was all that popular at first. Had Kennedy not been assassinated, I'm not sure it would have passed. Sure, Johnson deserves some credit, but much credit must also go to Kennedy, and the sympathy vote generated by his assassination.

Posted by Reverse Polarity (formerly SDA in SEA) | January 7, 2008 3:13 PM
20

keshmeshi-

statistics point to Brown v. and the Civil Rights Act as being pretty much ineffective in bringing about real change

Reference, please?

Posted by Big Sven | January 7, 2008 3:29 PM
21

Diane Sawyer looks damn good for 62.

Posted by DOUG. | January 7, 2008 3:40 PM
22

Cm'on. MLK had to march (with 1000s of others), JFK had to die, and LBJ had to be a legislative genius to get the civil rights act passed.
Nothing is unicausal.

And as far as LBJ being an accidental president:

JFK shot in...Texas.
LBJ prior hisotry: do anything to rise to presidency. Break laws to get ahead. Tied in with right wing Texas money.

The dog that didn't bark is why'd LBJ not run again? He was a ambition whore and he wouldn't have naturally stepped down just because some idiot gets 2d place in the NH primary.

Hm two unusual facts....
maybe related?? Hmmmm?

But how....?

Nixon had the goods on LBJ -- that he knew who really killed JFK and/or knew before it happened and had done nothing to stop it or expose it.
Whether it was right wing Cubans or Southerners or fringe CIA elements or the mob. How'd Nixon get the goods on LBJ?

Hoover? Did he arrange or know who was gonna kill JFK and made sure LBJ knew and corruptly didn't stop it.
There, that ties up all the loose ends of the 1960s.

There's always big spaces between the dots, at first.

Posted by unPC | January 7, 2008 3:46 PM
23

And then there were three football field between the dots. How come Wikipedia doesn't know about this? Oliver Stone, call home!

Posted by RHETT ORACLE | January 7, 2008 4:54 PM
24

All I know is, I've seen the brain autopsy data, and he's still dead.

Posted by Will in Seattle | January 7, 2008 5:06 PM
25

Hillary is vicious and personal when she's on the defensive. And not in a productive way. I don't want to live through four years of that.

Posted by amocat | January 7, 2008 7:47 PM
26

@25 -Why not? If you've been alive for the past seven years, you've already seen and lived through beyond vicious and personal. Not unlike eating a live toad every morning. Get a grip.

Posted by RHETT ORACLE | January 8, 2008 12:24 AM

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