Reply #20: Given his background [View All]

I suspect and hope that Obama will create an environment where people's movements can progress and make change on their own. I suspect he will be ready to enact as much change as people are ready to handle. Left wing movements can accomplish a lot if the government simply stays out of their way and stops trying to thwart them like most Presidents have since Wilson.

My interpretation of Obama's book and what he writes about the 60's is that while Johnson did many great things, there was a backlash with Nixon and Reagan because Johnson went beyond what people were ready to handle too quickly. Change is lasting when it comes from the people instead of being imposed from the top down. That was the bigger subtext to the MLK/LBJ discussion between Hillary and Obama beyond the race issue. Hillary thinks change comes from the top. Obama has a very different philosophy.