Greg welcomes guests Tracy Byrnes and Tom Shillue. Plus, TV's Andy Levy joins the panel.
Obama's Chickens are Coming Home to Roost
I covered both Bush and Clinton, and I'd constantly see a line of lawmakers' cars parked on the West Wing driveway while their owners hashed something out with the president in the Oval Office. With Obama, the driveway is always nice, tidy and empty.
Obama has ignored his homework. He failed to sow the seeds of trust and friendship. And now, suddenly, he wants something. "The president is on line one," congressional aides around Capitol Hill will be saying over the next week to their bosses. For many members, it will be their first serious chat with him. And, they'll figure, probably their last.
A fascinating thing to do is to listen to the Oval Office tapes of Lyndon Johnson. He can be heard in endless phone calls alternatively buttering up and ordering around lawmakers and various other members of the Washington establishment with an ease that suggests he knows the people he’s speaking with, understands what levers to pull, and enjoys what he’s doing.
Listen to this small example as he all but orders then-Congressman Gerald Ford to serve on the Warren Commission that would investigate John F. Kennedy’s assassination. In just 90 seconds you can discern Johnson's thorough understanding of Congress and infer the numerous relationships he has there.
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