Hey, Hey, LBJ....

[poliphilo]

I've been around a while and I've seen hateful politicians come and go.

They arrive, they block out the light, they depart.

The first American President I really hated was LBJ.

"Hey, hey, LBJ
How many kids have you killed today?"

Actually Johnson wasn't all bad. He pushed through civil rights legislation. Sometimes the biggest monsters do the most surprising things.

Like it was Nixon who went to China. And maybe (as the old Vulcan proverb says) he was the only one who could.

Then there was Margaret Thatcher. I hated her with a passion. And she just seemed to go on and on and on. But she's stepped down now- and I find it hard to remember what all the fuss was about.

Politicians are less important than they/we think they are. Who was in charge in the 1890s? Which American Presidents? Which British Prime Ministers? I don't know. I'd have to go look it up. But everybody's heard of Oscar Wilde.

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Bush is now speaking.

He is smiling and chipper.

He says, among other things: "We will extend our hand to all who share our goals."

Note the Divine "we."

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Mrs Thatcher used it too. Most notoriously in the pronouncement, "We are a grandmother."

We have to hold onto our perception of these people as trivial and ridiculous. We must never stop finding them funny.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

We have to hold onto our perception of these people as trivial and ridiculous. We must never stop finding them funny.


This should be easy!

Bush looked so happy and relaxed today that it was hard not to like him. Then he talked about all those new Republicans coming into the Congress, how he'd be welcoming them, and my moment of maudlin weakness passed.