JFK was the last “great” Democratic president, because he was lionized and his presidency turned into “Camelot.” And all that happened because he was killed on the streets of Dallas.7/ worrying something is going to go wrong. It really is deeply embedded in the habits of mind of the two political factions.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) October 14, 2024
LBJ was the greatest Democratic president in the 20th century. He did more for the country in 5 years than FDR did in four terms. But Vietnam buried him and he gave the White House away to Nixon. Vietnam buried his legacy, too. No Democrat to this day has really championed what LBJ did, except in defense against Republicans trying to undo it.
Nixon, four years later, defeated McGovern in the greatest rout in Presidential history. McGovern carried Massachusetts; and no other state. The power of that political trauma cannot be overstated.
Jimmy Carter defeated Ford, and negotiated the Camp David Accord, which stands to this day. Carter was swept away by a hostage crisis and Reagan’s 8 years of superior PR. (Somebody please tell me what Reagan accomplished. Volcker defeated inflation that started under Nixon (against Reagan’s wishes (double digit interest rates) and proving Friedman a fool (Reagan didn’t cut federal spending). Iran-Contra and Reykjavik were the hallmarks of Reagan’s presidency.) Carter accomplished far more than Reagan (Gorbachev eventually tore down the wall; not Reagan nor Poppy Bush). But, as I say, Reagan had better PR.
Bill Clinton balanced the budget and oversaw a booming economy (as he later said: the economy thrives under Democrats). But he couldn’t keep his pants zipped. The presidency of Shrub is notable only because Trump eclipsed it for incompetence and abuse of power. Obama did what no president since LBJ could do: gave more Americans access to healthcare. But he was black, and Hillary was Bill’s wife, so…
And Biden proved anybody was preferable to Trump. And then went on to place himself in the pantheon with LBJ and FDR. But Democrats are incapable of acknowledging victory. LBJ was too Texan. McGovern left electoral trauma the Democrats have never recovered from, even with Watergate. Obama was historic just by being African American (he was more than that, and burdened by it himself, in some ways), but Trump wiped that victory away. Or Democrats let him do so.
Republicans (well, ultra-rich Republicans) thought Goldwater was robbed, and have lived in their belief in their divine right to rule ever since (if not long before). MAGA is going to “take America back!” Back from whom?, is the obvious question. The answer is equally obvious. Democrats want a large tent, in keeping with a pluralistic democracy. Republicans want a rule by minority: the white male landowners of the unamended Constitution. Just the way their white God intended it to be.
So the Democrats have always been the party Will Rogers described: not an organized one. In American history, the alternative seems to be a party organized around a narrowing principle. Today that’s MAGA.
I’ll take Dems in disarray, thanks. 😊
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