The perils of Obama vs LBJ and Congressional Democrats

I'm going to basically thumbs-up, with brief commentary, two pieces by friend Perry.

The first is from the last part of the header. It's about how Congressional Democrats will run with about anything and anyone with a D after the name or idea — as long as the name isn't Obama.

When you're giving the professorial version of the cold shoulder to as valiant of an ally as Harry Reid, it's both bad and sad. It's even worse when, in this case, he's fighting for confirmation of ambassadors that Obama nominated.

I saw this as part of his MO long ago. So did one chronicler of his first-term White House years, Ron Susskind in "Confidence Men." The man is so anti-political in some ways that, other than his hubris that his mellifluous voice could change how American politics works, or perhaps a bucket list that had "first black president" on it, or some Freudian wish-fulfillment for his mom, I have no damned idea why he even ran for the office.

Hell, for all I know, Obama doesn't have a clear idea himself; that wouldn't surprise me either.

The second is about why isn't Dear Leader like LBJ?

Perry riffs on a good column by Matt Bai, who in turn riffs extensively on LBJ biographer Robert Caro.

I agree that most Dems don't want LBJ's jerkitude, while a lot of Republicans like that. That said beyond (as a political operative, not political stances, where he rightly dings both) unfavorably comparing Dear Leader to Hillary Clinton, we can have somebody tougher than Dear Leader in a lot of ways without being a jerk.

And so, with that, as I told Perry, why isn't Obama at least a bit more like LBJ?

Because, to riff on an old LBJ phrase, Obama put his pecker in someone else's pocket long ago.