The Newest Deal

Dear Reader (including those of you ill-prepared for the lizard invasion),

Let me give a pithy summation of Lyndon Johnson’s presidency: LBJ came in like a roaring lion, and went out like the kind of mangy lion who could get his ass kicked by a surly lamb. Between the political capital he inherited from JFK’s assassination and his own formidable political skill, he racked up an impressive string of transformative accomplishments from the Great Society to the Civil Rights Act. He left office a beaten man, opting not to run again. His party was torn apart by internal fights, his political capital drained like a hacked ATM by Vietnam and racial unrest. 

I bring this up because, in the months prior to President Joe Biden’s inauguration, I’d often ask guests on my podcast if they thought a Biden presidency would be more like the first two years of the LBJ administration or the last two years.

Right now, it looks like the first two years at a minimum. Heck, Biden seems to think that sets the bar too low. A bunch of historians told him he could be the next FDR, and he’s going for it.