LBJ was the real dealmaker in the White House when he got us Medicare...

[TreasonousBastard]

Last week I was listening to Bill Moyers discussing this on NPR's Fresh Air. Johnson knew exactly how to cajole and threaten Congress to get something passed. Not only did he have to deal conservative congresscritters, the AMA hired Reagan to run around the country making speeches against Medicare as a socialist plot.

But he got it done. He didn't whine about it while bragging about how he was so popular.

http://billmoyers.com/story/lbj-launches-medicare-cant-treat-grandma-way/

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I was a White House assistant at the time, working for President Lyndon B. Johnson as he coaxed, cajoled, badgered, buttonholed and maneuvered Congress into enacting Medicare for the aging and Medicaid to help low-income people. For all the public displays over the years of his outsized personae and powers of persuasion, this time he had kept a low profile, working behind the scenes as his legislative team and career health care experts practically lived on Capitol Hill, negotiating with members of Congress and their staffs.

From the White House, LBJ worked the phones; invited senators and representatives singly and collectively in for coffee, drinks or dinner; listened attentively in private to opponents and proponents from interests as varied as business, labor, medicine and religion; and kept in his head a running tally of the fluctuating vote count.

As it had been for decades, it was a tough fight down to the wire. A look back is instructive, not only to show how long it can take to move a legislative dream to reality but also to illustrate how a president with a grasp of history and knowledge of how government works is crucial to making success possible.
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[TexasProgresive]

1. He knew exactly how congress works (worked)

What is amazing to me is that he had no executive experience but he did that well as well. We have LBJ to thank for Medicare and the Civil Rights Act. Sadly that last great achievement delivered the "solid South" to the rPukes forever. My fellow southerns need to let go of their racist inclinations and move on up. That goes for many elsewhere as well. The South has no lock on racism.

[Nitram]

2. Yes, that was an excellent story and well told.

[Cicada]

3. The AMA opposed it. Physician income doubled within 3 years.

Sometimes people get it wrong. The Motion Picture Assoc fought Sony Betamax to the Supreme Court and lost 5 to 4. Within a couple years they made as much from VCR sales as from the box office.

[ananda]

4. He was a dealmaker par excellence!

Remember what they called the Lyndon Treatment?

[oasis]

5. A film about LBJ will be coming soon. I'm eager to check it out. nt