“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the
Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read 'President Can't Swim.'
“
Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973)
36th President of the United States
Lyndon Baines Johnson was a man of many faces and many
talents and….otherwise….
I’m no particular fan of LBJ, but I’m very sure it hurt him
deeply when anti-Vietnam War protestors chanted “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids
did you kill today?”
The 36th president of the United States was a
confident and determined practitioner of realpolitik. He could mock the injustice
of “President Can’t Swim” even as he understood the comic, insane reality of
the zinger.
I think the willing leader of the “War on Poverty” believed
that political zingers are not the essence of our polity.
Nevertheless, they seem to be the essence of our politics.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved.
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