Romney and LBJ

Published April 3, 2012 4:00am ET



During his victory speech this evening, Mitt Romney raised the eyebrows of a number of people on Twitter (including me) when he sounded like he may have been suggesting that Lyndon Johnson was a “great” president. But Romney’s campaign sends along his prepared remarks, which give weight to the view that he was intending to attribute the claim to President Obama.

Here’s what Romney actually said in his speech (emphasis mine):

And that’s why it is important to understand one extraordinary fact about this election: President Obama thinks he’s doing a good job. I’m not kidding. He actually thinks he’s doing a great job. He thinks he’s doing a historically great job, like Abraham Lincoln and LBJ and FDR. And no he did not say that on Saturday Night Live.

Hearing that, it sounded to me as if Romney were saying something to the effect of, “Haha, isn’t it funny that Obama would think he was great like Lincoln and LBJ and FDR?!”

But here’s how Romney’s prepared remarks read, according to the campaign (again, my emphasis):

And that’s why it is important to understand one astonishing fact about this election: President Obama thinks he’s doing a good job. No, I’m not kidding. He actually thinks he’s doing a great job. An historically great job. According to the President, only Lincoln, FDR and Lyndon Johnson have accomplished more. And no, he didn’t say that on Saturday Night Live.

I don’t think this is a big deal and am willing to give Romney the benefit of the doubt on this. Just figured I’d clarify the matter since it seemed to be getting some chatter.