From civil rights, to the environment, education and fighting poverty, Johnson has a record of domestic accomplishments rivaled by no President save Franklin Roosevelt. His list of achievements includes things that dramatically effect the daily lives of every American to this day. That includes creation of the Head Start program, which Bill Clinton often brags about expanding.
Compare that legacy to Bill Clinton. When I hear Democrats talk about how great Clinton was as President they usually rattle off a series of numbers and statistics about how good the economy was and how he balanced the budget. Those are fine accomplishments and he deserves credit for that.
But how long did Clinton's legacy last? It took only two years of the Bush administration to destroy everything Clinton did to build up the economy and balance the budget. What kind of legacy can a President claim if its so easily undone by the next President?
I was impressed by Johnson's speech to Congress in March of 1965 when he called for a new Voting Rights Act.
My first job after college was as a teacher in Cotulla, Texas, in a small Mexican-American school. Few of them could speak English and I couldn't speak much Spanish. My students were poor and they often came to class without breakfast and hungry. And they knew even in their youth the pain of prejudice. They never seemed to know why people disliked them, but they knew it was so because I saw it in their eyes.That's something Bill Clinton was never willing to do. He presented safe, poll-tested measures and wasted the nation's time on an idiotic personal mistake. Clinton deserves credit for his accomplishments but when I think of his lasting legacy I see eight years of missed opportunities.
I often walked home late in the afternoon after the classes were finished wishing there was more that I could do. But all I knew was to teach them the little that I knew, hoping that I might help them against the hardships that lay ahead. And somehow you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child.
I never thought then, in 1928, that I would be standing here in 1965. It never even occurred to me in my fondest dreams that I might have the chance to help the sons and daughters of those students, and to help people like them all over this country. But now I do have that chance.
And I'll let you in on a secret--I mean to use it. And I hope that you will use it with me.
That's why I don't want to waste four more years on another Clinton. I don't want another cautious President who will leave a temporary legacy easily dismantled in two years after the next Republican president is appointed. I want real change.
What I see from Hillary is more of the same pandering to the polls and governing based on her fear of being too controversial. Johnson knew that his stand for Civil Rights would cost the Democratic Party the south, but he did it anyway.
Hillary Clinton is no Lyndon Johnson.