On Robert Caro

On May 1 the fourth volume of Robert Caro's massive and enthralling biography of Lyndon Johnson is scheduled to be released. This was to be the last volume, but as many of us suspected, there was simply no way the prolix Caro was going to cover LBJ's entire Vice Presidency, Presidency, and the few remaining years of his life in one volume given the depth of scope he devoted to LBJ's pre-presidential career. Recently Esquire and The New York Times Magazine both devoted extensive features to Caro and his work (which perhaps inevitably led to some significant overlap in both themes but also in anecdotes).

I would suspect that most writers will respond as I did, with considerable awe about his process and his painstaking dedication to getting it all just right. But I suspect there will also be considerable envy (and admiration) for the way that he has been able to impose his will on a major publishing house even in an era where the bounded book seems besieged from all sides.

I'll be lined up on May 1 to pick up the latest volume. I would also push anyone interested in big (but perhaps not quite so ambitious) biographies of LBJ to consider Randall Woods' substantial one-volume biography of Johnson. One of the more interesting, and perhaps controversial, subplots in Woods' creation is that he refused to engage with Caro's work, something he explains in the introduction of a book that casts LBJ in a far more positive light than Caro does, especially in his first two volumes.

Obama's Shot at Greatness

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced monumental challenges and rose to them. James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, and George W. Bush faced comnparable challenges and failed in the face of them. Woodrow Wilson and Lyndon Johnson only partially succeeded in mastering the demands of their eras. Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton always lamented never having that moment to meet. Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan (as well as Clinton and maybe Truman) probably fall between these categories, as both were popular presidents in modestly challenging times who probably succeeded more than they failed but who had notable shortcomings and never faced the singular events of depression, war, or a 9/11-type calamity. Context provides opportunity and challenges, and how a president responds to that opportunity and those challenges goes a long way in determining that president's place in history.

President Obama faces the circumstances for greatness but the question remains whether he masters the moment, or the moment masters him. Supporters like me believe he is the man for these troubling times. The clock is ticking on his hundred days, a constructed but symbolically resonant creation that presidents since FDR have faced with varying degrees of success. Obama's challenge will be to maximize his mandate, to use the current goodwill he has garnered as a springboard, and to use not only the next hundred days but beyond to impose his will on events rather than allow events to overrun him.