College of Political Knowledge
2024 Election Series
For all you out there that have no idea what an “LBJ Moment” might be….let me help you out.
1968 LBJ was expected to run for re-election and he decide to opt out of the process….
By late March 1968, President Lyndon Johnson’s presidency lay in tatters. Anger over the war in Vietnam and Johnson’s growing credibility gap had created a full-scale insurgency at home, within the Democratic Party. On 12 March, Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy won more than 40% of the vote against Johnson in the New Hampshire primary.
Days later, Robert F. Kennedy, Johnson’s greatest political nemesis, announced his intention to also challenge the president. I had been expecting it,” Johnson later matter-of-factly wrote in his memoirs about Kennedy’s entry into the race.
On the campaign trail, Kennedy seemed to be blaming every national infirmity on the president. At the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, he even went to far as to accuse Johnson of “calling upon the darker impulses of the American spirit.”
With Democratic voters in Wisconsin prepared to head to the polls on 3 April all signs pointed to Johnson suffering a catastrophic primary defeat to McCarthy’s energized and confident foot soldiers. Nationally, Johnson’s approval rating sank to 36 percent, and support for his handling of Vietnam plummeted to 26 percent. Missouri senator Stuart Symington told a closed-door meeting of his Senate colleagues, “Lyndon Johnson could not be elected dogcatcher in Missouri today.”
Beyond his immediate political challenges, a larger emotional toll was being taken on the president. He regularly shuffled from his personal quarters to the Situation Room in the basement of the White House in his bathrobe and slippers. In a meeting with his old friend Senator Richard Russell, he began crying uncontrollably. He felt “chased on all sides” by the growing dissent and anger over the war, the “inflationary economy,” and the “rioting blacks, demonstrating students, marching welfare mothers, squawking professors, and hysterical reporters.” Not since Lincoln had an American president faced as much domestic dissent as that which confronted Johnson in the spring of 1968.
(blog.oup.com)
I bring this situation up because there is the Iowa Caucuses today and Trump is expected to rout all comers. Plus Biden’s poll numbers are not what anyone would call good…..so will Biden do as another Dem prez did…cut and run?
One independent candidate thinks it is a possibility.
Cornel West is sure he’ll be on the ballot for the 2024 presidential election as an independent candidate. But the Harvard prof isn’t sure that President Biden will be one of his opponents. “I think he’s going to have an LBJ moment [and] pull back,” West tells Politico, referring to Lyndon B. Johnson’s surprise withdrawal from the race in 1968. Instead, West won’t be surprised if the Democratic nominee ends up being California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both of whom he considers to be on the “B team,” he says in the interview. “I’m just saying that I’m open to those possibilities, given the fluidity of the situation,” he says of Biden. “He’s running out of gas.”
Polls, lots of polls, tells us that Biden is losing his grip on popularity and the possibility that he will help Trump win another term as mini-dictator.
Plus the voters are losing all confidence in the Dems across the board….another indication the Biden may be fighting an uphill battle.
Will he pull an LBJ?
My thought is he will not….there is something about the gig that keeps these slugs coming and coming….it is like a crack addiction….always wanting more and never enough.
What say you?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
What say I? I say “Nothing I can do about it. What will be will be.”
A 40s reference? chuq
All this political shit is staged and is predetermined.
Of course it is that is why you have so many problems. chuq
Personally I do not have problems.
Then you are a fortunate person. chuq
I am not only fortunate, I am blessed.
Blessed? Lucky you chuq
Luck is associated with the devil and evil worldly concerns…Blessings are associated with God and His benevolent Nature.
I will let that go chuq
If he was going to do that, it’s a bit late, isn’t it? I mean he’s already running his campaign to get elected and has been for some time. And there is literally no one else with enough popularity and name recognition to pull it off on the Dem side. Not this late in the game.
LBJ w3aited until March to pull out…at least I think that was right….Biden can still drop but he will not. chuq
My moment is that I can clearly see the lives that would be crushed and lost if Trump and GOP majorities are allowed to drag American women, POC people, non-straight people and non-evangelical Christians down to be interned or exiled from a free life. I was fool enough not to vote for HHH in 68 – cannot repeat that death cycle. Voting Blue to have a chance to press for progress in years to come.
I agree but then the Dems are almost as conserv as the damn GOP chuq
some may be but most are not… the “they are all the same” does not wash on most issues.
On minor issues but since all are beholding to corporate cash they all do not want the same thing. chuq
Anyone has the right to run for President. Doesn’t make them qualified in the least – and for those who do it solely to help another major candidate, shame on them.
I agree….but money speaks volumes nowadays and hard to tell who is funding who. chuq
You hit it on the head exactly! In 2016 there were third party candidates being funded specifically to take votes away from one person. Then they disappear…
I believe Jill Stein was accused of Russian money…..but that has not been proven…..but I do know what you mean. chuq
It’s literally anyone who goes not he ballot supported by those who are simply using them to hurt their opponent – why some would let that happen…well, we all know why. Your posts are always intelligent and instigate conversation that need to be had – no matter who we support, it’s about understanding the underlying issues that impact our lives going forward, especially when they are subterfuge
Thanx for the kind words John chuq
Have you heard the many rumours about Michell Obama considering a late run for the Democratic nomination, or stepping in if Biden withdraws? I still doubt that Biden will last until November. He is looking more befuddled by it all every time I see him on the News here.
Best wishes, Pete.
I agree with your assessment but power makes strange bedfellows….he will hang on until the end. chuq
Pretty much John is right… we haven’t the foggiest how this will turn out and speculation abounds. Everyone has a theory.. or not. Here’s my humble speculation. Unless I am reading the schedule incorrectly, the RNC convention is in July, hence all the states will have made their decisions. That’s 6 months from now. Looks like Trump will get it. What can change that? Not much time left.
Here’s a basic observation… in a quasi-perfect world, if Haley got the nomination she would likely defeat Biden in a general election… simply because a substantial partisan non-partisan electorate is just tired of old men. Even if Trump gets at least one criminal conviction in a the next couple of months it’s close to too late to change any major primaries before the GOP convention. So, consider this…
In the next couple months Haley spins off to become Independent to get on the General ballot. By September Trump will likely have at least one conviction (at that point who cares about any appeal processes). Haley as an Independent will shift a LOT of November votes away from Trump and Biden. Call it what you will… the female vote has been wanting a first woman Prez since Hillary, people are tired of old guys running (ruining?) the show, and if either drops dead of old age their VP’s are not inspiring on their own, Trump’s a convicted criminal, Biden sucks, whatever. Nikki would be left standing against Trump and Biden… especially if she manages a respectable running mate. Hell, even I might vote for her. She masquerades as MAGA but she really hasn’t got her heart in it. She’s got political experience, some international experience, blah blah. She’s no radical. She also carries a bit of a percentage of existing Trump voters that’s growing.
Who knows.
As a followup… keep in mind Trump is getting really pressured with those financial judgements on his civil trials, not to mention the criminal trials. He will continue to verbally lash out randomly and arbitrarily, adding to his already cumbersome behaviors… and campaigning from the various courtrooms. Also imagine this…. Haley vs. Biden vs. Trump on the same debate stage. Just the imagery alone of two men ganging up on a lady…. and she would rule the day.
That would be an interesting debate (for a change) chuq
I just do not see Repubs saddling up to a woman candidate…..but that is just me chuq
Enough female Republicans might… but your guess is as good as mine.
I have little faith in conserv women…..but you are right. chuq
A female Repubs might. But again, who the hell knows.
No one knows for sure until the vote. chuq
BTW.. why do I now have to subscribe with my email before any replies post each and every time?
I kinda figured you were that “someone’ comments. chuq