We just passed the semicentennial of Nam and The Deadline Poet (Calvin Trillin) offered a view of the schizophrenic Great Society that ran alongside the (endless) war in southeast Asia thanks to LBJ (POTUS 36). The obvious allusion for our time is the mindless quagmires of Afghanistan and Iraq and the presidency of Hope (POTUS 44). The nightmarish departure from Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) will be revisited with the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in 2014..., 2015..., 2016.... If this is a (fair & balanced) national nightmare, so be it.
[x The Nation]
The Legacy Of LBJ
By The Deadline Poet (Calvin Trillin)
Tag Cloud of the following piece of writing
Some say that the Vietnam War has obscured Johnson's extraordinary domestic accomplishments.
—News reports
Well, yes, there was that awful war,
That he pushed hell for leather.
But now, they say, we miss his skill
In knocking heads together. Ω
[Calvin Trillin began his career as a writer for Time magazine. Since July 2, 1990, as a columnist at The Nation, Trillin has written his weekly "Deadline Poet" column: humorous poems about current events. Trillin has written considerably more pieces for The Nation than any other single person. A native of Kansas City, MO, Trillin received his BA from Yale College in 1957. He served in the army, and then joined Time.]
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