♦ “My Congress,” Lyndon Johnson called it in 1965. “The best Congress in the history of this nation,” he said this year. If the nation is to be equated with LBJ, as LBJ seems to think, then he is correct. Postmaster General Lawrence O’Brien, the President’s chief arm-twister on Capitol Hill, says proudly that the 89th Congress passed 181 of the Administration’s 200 major requests, for a .905 batting average. Some journalists quickly pointed out that his list included measures passed in watered-down form, but they were indulging in nit-picking. With rare exception, Lyndon’s will was done.
So frantic was Congress’ pace last year in passing new legislation that even Administration spokesmen suggested at the end of the first session that it might be wise this year to take a closer look at what Congress had wrought, lest there be loose ends. That much-needed examination never came about. The War on Poverty, for example, was extended and expanded despite the most blatant and extensive corruption.
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