American - Historian | May 16, 1934 -
Obama's endorsement of gay marriage is hardly as consequential as Johnson's legislative success on civil rights.
Robert Dallek
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Kennedy is remembered as a success mainly because of what came after: Johnson and Vietnam. Nixon and Watergate.
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Once the public loses confidence in a president's leadership at a time of war, once they don't trust him anymore, once his credibility is sharply diminished, how does he get it back?
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I think experience is a terribly overrated idea when it comes to thinking about who should become president.
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Historians partial to Kennedy see matters differently from those partial to L.B.J. Vietnam has become a point of contention in defending and criticizing J.F.K.
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Congress becomes the public voice of opposition.
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What makes war interesting for Americans is that we don't fight war on our soil, we don't have direct experience of it, so there's an openness about the meanings we give to it.
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Governing is one thing, campaigning is another - and the latter becomes far more pronounced in an election-year State of the Union.
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If nobody trusts you as president, then you can't get anything done.
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American politics is theatre. There is a frightening emotionalism at national conventions.
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A presidential candidate's great desire is to be seen as pragmatic, and they hope their maneuvering and shifting will be seen in pursuit of some higher purpose. It doesn't mean they are utterly insincere.
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With television, you can make anyone look larger than life.
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