The message from the White House to members of Congress is that, yes, Obama is going to become much engaged in the health care debate. His model is Lyndon Baines Johnson:
In mapping its strategy, the Obama team chose to take its cues from another Democratic senator-turned-president: following the legislative model employed by Johnson to enact Medicare in 1965.The president has to use his bully pulpit and those powers of persuasion, but this is all for naught if we get a bill that doesn't actually reform health care. Empowering and protecting the insurance companies, as so many Democrats still want to do, doesn't accomplish reform. If Obama wants to channel enact real reform, he'll push hard for a real public option, not a weak, watered down co-op provision. We'll learn a lot about Obama's commitment by hard how he fights for the public option.
"There are two qualities these presidents have in common," said White House senior adviser David Axelrod. Like Obama, Johnson "had a big vision and drove the country toward it, and second, he had a great appreciation for the legislative process."
Early on, Obama and health czar Nancy-Ann DeParle discussed the parallels with Johnson and creation of the health program that serves 45 million seniors and people with disabilities today. Just as Johnson gave legendary lawmaker Wilbur Mills (D-Ark.) latitude to craft the Medicare bill, Obama has asked Congress to write the health-care revamp legislation.
And just as Johnson was known for his powers of personal persuasion, Obama, a former senator himself, has assiduously cultivated and cajoled lawmakers.
One difference between Obama and LBJ is that the Post notes Obama still "covets" bipartisanship. Johnson had served in the Senate for decades, eventually becoming Majority Leader. My sense is that LBJ just wanted to get the job done and didn't "covet" anything except winning. We need that part of LBJ, too.
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