Hey, hey, LBJ…

…I hope you're feeling good today. Stanley Kutler at Truthdig...

After the voting rights bill passed, presidential aide Bill Moyers found LBJ rather downcast. “Why?” Moyers asked. “Because, Bill,” the president replied, “I think we just delivered the South to the Republican Party for a long time to come.” It is true that Strom Thurmond, Newt Gingrich and the Southern Democrats who became Republicans indeed profited from the 1965 legislation.

Johnson was right, but only for a short run. Forty-odd years is not terribly long, given the eventual payoff in 2008.

Yeah, yeah, the war and all. I was there - literally. You don't have to tell me.

Dollars to donuts, though, that if we hadn't had LBJ when we did, we wouldn't have Barack Obama when we do.