Here Is How LBJ Would Push Health Care Through Congress
Frequently we talk here at home about what LBJ would be doing if he were in the Oval Office, and wanted health care reform passed through Congress. I have mentioned it on my blog in passing. Yesterday on “Face The Nation” Bob Schieffer offered insight into this glance back at history and the way LBJ would get something passed through Congress.
LBJ would:
Have a list of every member of Congress on his desk.
He would be on the telephone with members (and their key staffers) constantly: “Your president really needs your vote on this bill.”
He would have a list of every special request every member wanted — from White House tours to appointments to federal jobs and commissions.
He would make a phone call or have a personal visit with every member — individually or in a group. Charts, graphs, coffee. They would get the “Johnson Treatment” as nobody else could give it.
He would have a willingness to horse-trade with every member.
He would keep a list of people who support each member financially. A call to each to tell them to get the vote of that representative.
He would have Billy Graham calling Baptists, Cardinal Cushing calling Catholics, Dr. Martin Luther King calling blacks, Henry Gonzales calling Hispanics, Henry Ford and David Rockefeller calling Republicans.
He would get Jack Valenti to call the Pope if it would help.
He would have speeches written for members for the Congressional Record and hometown newspapers.
He would use up White House liquor having nightcaps with the leaders and key members of BOTH parties.
Each of them would take home cufflinks, watches, signed photos, and perhaps even a pledge to come raise money for their next election.
He would be sending gifts to children and grandchildren of members.
He would walk around the South Lawn with reporters telling them why this was important to their own families.
He would send every aide in the White House to see every member of the House and Senate. He would send me to see Sen. Richard Russell and Rep. Carl Vinson because I am a Georgian.
He would call media executives Kay Graham, Frank Stanton, Robert Kintner, and the heads of every network.
He would go to pray at six different churches.
He would do newspaper, radio and TV interviews — especially with Merriman Smith, Hugh Sidey, Sid Davis, Forrest Boyd, Ray Scherer, Helen Thomas, Marianne Means, Walter Cronkite, Phil Potter, Bob Novak.
He would threaten, cajole, flirt, flatter, hug — and get the health care bill passed.
Congratulations LBJ you have just got the Health Care Bill passed. Now you have a BIG constitutional problem, you can’t force people to buy anything let alone Health Care Insurance from the government.
OOOPS!!!
Better get on the phone with Jack Valenti or the Pope and see if they have any idea what to do now.
Sure, but doesn’t the list point out in many ways exactly what is wrong with our government? How much of the list hinges on an appeal to the merits of a given plan; how much is pressure, flattery, or bribery? While I’m sure Bush did all of these things, they don’t amount to the most ethical and transparent government and have nothing to do with the enlightened heart and mind that “yes, we can” implies.
Perhaps Obama should read the bill. Perhaps he should draft on of his own instead of just voting “present.”