Obama and Johnson A 50 Year Legacy

Comparing Two Presidents Fifty Years Apart: Barack Obama and Lyndon Johnson

Barack Obama made history as the first African American president elected to the nation’s highest office. But he will be remembered as well for his many historic contributions to the lives of American citizens, most notably with the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA enabled, through the use of tax subsidies and Medicaid expansion, millions of uninsured Americans to finally be able to afford healthcare: “Over 20 million more people – more than nine out of 10 Americans – now have health insurance. 129 million people with pre-existing health conditions are guaranteed health insurance” (Daschle, 2017, par. 9).

Obama struggled to gain support for this historic legislation, which is still being fought in the courts. He presided over one of the most partisan legislatures in recent memory, but was still able, after much compromise and debate, to pass the ACA. One Republican small business owner, speaking at a town meeting, said that he would be dead if it were not for the ACA. He lost his health insurance, only to find himself diagnosed with cancer shortly after (Daschle, 2017). The ACA was one of the most major pieces of social legislation passed since President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs 50 years previously.

On the surface, the biographies of Barack Obama and Lyndon Johnson could not be more different. Obama was a relatively inexperienced senator, yet highly educated at Columbia University and Harvard Law School. He was a Midwesterner, and had worked both as a law professor and a community activist. Johnson, on the other hand, was a political insider. He served in both houses of Congress, including as Senate Majority Leader (“Great Society,” 2021). After coming to the presidency in the wake of President Kennedy’s assassination in 1964, Johnson used his political clout to pass major acts of civil rights legislation, expanding voting and employment protections to members of historically discriminated-against groups, and declared a war on poverty (“Great Society,” 2021). Johnson passed some of the first healthcare legislation to protect the needy, including Medicare (the federally regulated healthcare for the elderly) and Medicaid (the state-regulated healthcare for the poor) (“Great Society,” 2021). He also established Head Start, a program to give poor children a better start via access to child enrichment, and established programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and Consumer Product and Safety Commission (“Great Society,” 2021).

Unlike Obama, Johnson came into power during a relatively wealthy period of our nation’s history, although it was fraught with political tensions during the Vietnam War. Ultimately, Johnson’s handling of the war and America’s deepening involvement in a conflict that seemed to have no end prevented his renomination to the presidency. Obama came to power in the wake of what came to be called the Great Recession, and worked to reestablish trust in the American banking industry, auto industry, and domestic economy through financial reform and support for industries suffering significant difficulties in the wake of economic changes (“Barack Obama,” 2021). He was ultimately elected to two complete terms as president.

Obama, unlike Johnson, could also lay claim to some significant foreign policy initiatives, including the killing of Osama bin Laden and a nuclear cessation deal with Iran, although the US continues to struggle with the risks posed by both the Taliban and instability in the Middle East (“Barack Obama,” 2021). However, as different as they are, both presidents clearly shared significant similarities in their support for the positive aspects of government interventions in citizen’s lives. Both also pursued fairly active government policies, although Obama was more committed to negotiation and working with America’s allies, a commitment exemplified in his being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize (“Barack Obama,” 2021). Both men’s tenure in office resulted in significant gains for the least privileged members of American society, as well as advanced civil rights.