He Did That Too? The LBJ Legacy
by Matt B. on February 20, 2010
Over the past year, most analysis of the Obama Administration’s health care push has centered on comparisons between Obama’s approach and Clinton’s strategy from 1993 – as if there weren’t any previous precedents for this kind of large-scale reform.
In this 1999 essay, LBJ adviser Joe Califano recounts the huge variety of Great Society accomplishments that markedly improved Americans’ lives. He writes: “Whatever anyone thinks about Vietnam and however much politicians shrink from the liberal label, it is time to recognize – as historians are beginning to do - the reality of the remarkable and enduring achievements of the Great Society programs. Without such programs as Head Start, higher-education loans and scholarships, Medicare, Medicaid, clear air and water, and civil rights, life would be nastier, more brutish, and shorter for millions of Americans.”
He Did That Too? The LBJ Legacy
by Matt B. on February 20, 2010
Over the past year, most analysis of the Obama Administration’s health care push has centered on comparisons between Obama’s approach and Clinton’s strategy from 1993 – as if there weren’t any previous precedents for this kind of large-scale reform.
In this 1999 essay, LBJ adviser Joe Califano recounts the huge variety of Great Society accomplishments that markedly improved Americans’ lives. He writes: “Whatever anyone thinks about Vietnam and however much politicians shrink from the liberal label, it is time to recognize – as historians are beginning to do - the reality of the remarkable and enduring achievements of the Great Society programs. Without such programs as Head Start, higher-education loans and scholarships, Medicare, Medicaid, clear air and water, and civil rights, life would be nastier, more brutish, and shorter for millions of Americans.”