Peter Wehner: The Rapid Collapse of Liberal Presidents

As President Obama​’s approval drops to 40 percent and independents are fleeing him in droves, as the economy continues to stagger and comparisons to the failed presidency of Jimmy Carter​ are increasingly being made by Democrats, it’s worth recalling the almost cult-like reverence Obama inspired after his election. You need not go further than this November 7, 2008 broadcast of “The Charlie Rose Show​,” which featured a conversation with David Remnick of The New Yorker and historians Alan Brinkley​ and Michael Beschloss​....

On and on it went, to the point that Remnick finally had to say, “We’ll climb out of the tank soon.” And while Rose’s guests inserted a qualifier here and a caveat there, reminding viewers Obama’s greatness as a chief executive still had to be proved, the infatuation with America’s 44th president is unmistakable.

Since then, the Obama presidency has suffered an enormous erosion in support. In this country, Democrats in 2010 experienced the worst electoral thrashing since the early part of the 20th century. In the Arab world, President Obama is less popular than his predecessor. Obama’s ineptness in the debt ceiling debate has infuriated his own party; so has his lack of leadership. Even Obama’s vaunted communications skills are being roundly criticized.

We have been here before. The last liberal apotheosis was in 1964, when Lyndon Johnson​ won the largest victory since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. Forty-seven Democrats were elected to the House. The early years of the Johnson presidency saw huge legislative achievements in federal aid to education, immigration, Medicare and civil rights. “The right had been rendered a joke, an embarrassment, a political footnote — probably for good,” is how Rick Perlestein, author of Nixonland, put it. “These are the most hopeful times since Christ was born in Bethlehem,” LBJ said in December 1964....