Palm Beach Gardens, FL – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that the choice facing voters this November will be as stark as in the milestone 1964 contest between Lyndon Johnson and Barry Goldwater — one that ended up with one of the greatest Democratic landslides in U.S. history.
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The president made his comments during a fundraising blitz in Florida, and right before his general election foe was essentially decided. Republican Rick Santorum dropped out of the presidential contest, making it clear that Obama would face off against Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor.
Obama was using his Florida swing to call again for Congress to raise taxes on millionaires, a populist pitch on an issue that he hopes will help define the differences with nominee-to-be Romney.
“This election will probably have the biggest contrast that we’ve seen maybe since the Johnson-Goldwater election, maybe before that,” Obama told donors at the first of three campaign events in this battleground state. The events were expected to raise at least $1.7 million.
In his 1964 race against Barry Goldwater, Johnson carried 44 of 50 states and won 61 percent of the popular vote, the largest share of any candidate since 1820.
Running on a record that included the Great Society, Johnson portrayed Goldwater as a dangerous extremist. He was aided by Goldwater’s GOP convention speech, in which the candidate proclaimed, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”
In a reception at a gated community in Palm Beach Gardens, Obama said Democrats would ensure the rich pay their fair share, while focusing on investments in education, science and research and caring for the most vulnerable.
By contrast, he said, Republicans would dismantle education and clean energy programs so they can give still more tax breaks to the rich.
Obama did not mention Romney by name, but the economic fairness message was the theme of his day — and aimed squarely at the wealthy former Massachusetts governor.
Obama was outlining his support for the so-called Buffett rule at a university speech in Boca Raton, Fla., arguing that wealthy investors should not pay taxes at a lower rate than middle-class wage earners.
The push for the Buffett rule, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, comes ahead of a Senate vote next week and as millions of Americans prepare to file their income tax returns. The plan has little chance of passing Congress, but Senate Democrats say the issue underscores the need for economic fairness.
Obama was capping his day at a large rally-style event in Hollywood, Fla., that was to include a musical performance by singer John Legend.
It is our Chief Executive who is dividing the country, by income level, class, race, sex, blue collar individuals, and white collar individuals. He has not united the country, but has divided it.
Shame Goldwater did not win. He was a true conservative not like these fakers today. He would have really shaped up this country as opposed to johnson that set it back for years and it is still broken.
If Baruch Goldvaser was still alive I would vote for him instead of Obama!
Romney doesn’t stand a chance against Obama – in November the republicans have no one to blame except themselvs
I was too young to vote in 64 but supported Goldwater anyhow. A lot of what he advovated about our dealing with North Vietnam did happen. The war there was almost impossible to win unless we would have used nuclear weapons on the north, which may have triggered a Soviet response.
Times have changed and now we have a leftist in the White House that must be voted out. I’m not thrilled with Romney but consider him the better choice moving forward. If he picks a wise choice for VP it will improve his chances and a chance to get us back on track.
In 40 years I have never seen America more divided by a POTUS then in the last 2 years! Yes I’m talking about race and religion but I’m also addressing his uncanny ability to further place a wedge between what he refers to as rich vs. poor, Dems.vs.Reps., the HAVES vs. the HAVE NOTS, what scale is HE using? He has made public assumptions in many situations in which I believe the leader of America should lead from an unbiased position! Be honest…if any other president had made a remark regarding a shooting and indicated that the person shot was the same color as a child of his, how would the media have responded? If that president was Asian, Indian, Latino, White? And why is it that Obama never speaks out in favor of Democracies that are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist etc. only Islamic? Look at all the countries he wants to help become “democracies”, why isn’t he inviting the leaders of the Coptic Christian Churches to join the Muslim Brotherhood to the Whitehouse for discussions on the future of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain etc. Obama has his OWN AGENDA and it is not a democracy that America or Israel will recognize!
I’d say that a better analogy would be the presidential race between left-wing George McGovern and Richard Nixon.
Nixon won over 60% of the popular vote, only slightly lower than Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, but with a larger margin of victory in the popular vote (over 22%). He received almost 18 million more popular votes than McGovern—the widest margin of any U.S. presidential election. McGovern only won the electoral votes of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia