Better than LBJ?

By Dave

That's what a report from Congressional Quarterly says. Obama won 96.7% of the votes in which he had any stake. That's almost 4 points higher than Lyndon Johnson, the famed arm-twister of the Senate. Not bad at all.

The reason for Obama's success is two-fold. First, the President has been very cautious, almost to a fault, about the fights he's willing engage in. Second, Obama has been very willing to accept compromise in order to secure a victory. There has yet to be an issue in which the President has drawn a line in the sand and declared "We will accept no less than (name your arbitrary breaking point)!" This all goes back to Obama's training as a community organizer. To paraphrase Saul Alinsky: if you come in with nothing, ask for 100% and compromise for 30%, you're 30% ahead! Declare victory and continue to fight another day. Having nothing doesn't leave you or your constituents any better off.

This mentality seems to have made for a good legislative track record. But it has left the liberal base restless. Americans, left and right, like to treat politics like team sports. They want to see their guys win and the other guys lose. Preferably lose big. People want to see you spike the ball in the other guys face. As a result, some on the left claim to be disheartened or even betrayed by Obama.

Personally, I've appreciated the President's style of governance. I like that Obama isn't "The Decider." Maureen Dowd be damned! I like that he doesn't treat us like children. I'm glad we finally have a president who doesn't act catty or petulant. Obama took the distinction between campaigning and governing seriously. We should be proud. It's something the last guys didn't do at all!


But I get it. It would be nice to see Obama put his foot down and get tough on an issue or two. My guess is we'll see more of that in 2010. It's a campaign year, after all. It could be a year to give red meat to the base and get down and dirty against political opponents.

But I wouldn't be surprised if their stellar legislative record suffered, as a result.