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One speech can reclaim O’s dignity

Dear Mr. President,

Knowing your interest in how previous presidents faced national crises, I recommend an example you might have missed. It’s an Oval Office speech noted not for its oratory, but for its surprising content. The parallels to your situation are striking.

By early 1968, Lyndon Johnson’s presidency had hit a dead end. His Great Society triumphs were behind him — the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and PBS.

Ahead lay only the continued quagmire of Vietnam, and a nation so divided he could not unite it. His approval rating was a dismal 36 percent, and only one in four Americans approved of the war.

He faced a tough slog for re-election, with even the Democratic Party nomination in some doubt. Sen. Eugene McCarthy, running against the war, nearly defeated him in the New Hampshire primary.

Sen. Robert Kennedy, sensing Johnson was vulnerable, jumped into the race in the middle of March. Two weeks later, on March 31, Johnson delivered a televised address from the Oval Office.

Most of the 35-minute speech was a defense of his escalation in Vietnam, which he leavened with an olive branch in hopes it would jump-start peace talks.

“Tonight, I renew the offer I made last August — to stop the bombardment of North Vietnam,” he declared. “I am taking the first step to de-escalate the conflict.”

He also talked about another topic that has an eerie similarity with today, Mr. President.

Noting the deficit could reach $20 billion — oh, for the good old days! — LBJ cited doubts “about America’s willingness to keep its financial house in order” and warned of “a threat to the dollar’s role as the keystone of international trade and finance.”

After another passage about the struggle for peace, he suddenly switched the subject.

“For 37 years in the service of our nation, first as a congressman, as a senator and as vice president, and now as your president, I have put the unity of the people first,” he said. “I have put it ahead of any divisive partisanship.”

But warning that “a house divided against itself” cannot stand, he declared, “There is division in the American house now,” and said it was his duty to put its repair above all else. Then came his bombshell.

“Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.”

He mumbled a few more words, said, “Good night and God bless all of you,” and stood to embrace his wife and daughter, a huge smile of relief on his face.

RFK, of course, soon was assassinated, and Republican Richard Nixon won the White House with 43 percent of the popular vote over Democrat Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace, who ran as an independent advocating segregation.

But Johnson, by stepping aside, had redeemed himself in the eyes of many Americans. One commentator said his act of selflessness had “reclaimed his moral leadership.”

There it is, Mr. President, a perfect model for our times, and for you.

I urge you to pull a Lyndon Johnson.

Like LBJ, you are the head of a divided nation and there is no reason to believe you can heal it. The market reaction to the historic debt downgrade and your speech Monday was a ringing vote of no confidence in your leadership. This is a crisis, and you have lost public trust.

Like LBJ, you can reclaim the moral high ground by putting country first. By announcing you will not seek re-election — with good Shermanesque finality — you will give your party time to find a replacement.

Most important, you can then give your full attention over the next 16 months to crafting bipartisan solutions to our many problems, without the distractions of campaigning or doubts about your motives.

Remember, you pledged to end the divisions between red states and blue states. You have failed, but there is still one hope left.

Just say the words, Mr. President. It’s the change America needs.

BRITTER LESSON: NO HUGS FOR THUGS

As Britain burns and mobs attack in Chicago, Philadelphia and Milwaukee, two questions arise: What the hell is going on? Could it happen in New York?

The answers are related. The thugs ran wild because they could. Legitimate protests or pranks got out of hand, and nobody stopped them. A shortage of cops and a willingness of officials to make excuses is a common theme.

So yes, it could happen here if Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD make the same mistakes.

Only yesterday, British Prime Minister David Cameron cut short a vacation and promised 10,000 more police and said they would be armed with plastic bullets. “These are sickening scenes,” he said. “This is criminality, pure and simple, and it has to be confronted and defeated.”

No kidding.

In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter, who is black, denounced violent mobs of African-American youths in his city.

“I don’t care what your economic status is in life, you do not have a right to beat someone’s ass on the street,” he said. He also said the rioters have “damaged your own race.”

The lesson for New York is clear: Move fast and big at the first sign of trouble. And show zero tolerance for troublemakers.

PA takes a big toll on itself

Give a hand to the bosses at the Port Authority. In one fell swoop, they woke up two governors.

Cuomo of New York and Christie of New Jersey share authority of the colossal agency, but both were caught napping by the plan for giant toll and fare hikes.

“You’re kidding, right?” Christie said he responded when he learned tolls on Hudson River and Staten Island crossings could go from $8 to $12. Cuomo was also said to be shocked, so the hikes are on hold.

Cynics may accuse the govs of playing along with a ruse to raise tolls more modestly. A $2 hike, say, would be a windfall for the Port yet would let the govs claim a 50 percent victory for drivers.

My general theory is you can never be cynical enough, but I don’t think that’s what’s happened here. I think Christie and Cuomo haven’t paid enough attention to the agency, so the Port bosses took it as a license to act.

That would fit the usual profile of the agency, which traditionally takes its independence seriously. In this case, it took it too seriously.

Oh, how he did love to Carey on

The death of former New York Gov. Hugh Carey at age 92 provokes praise about his political skills during the fiscal crisis and stories about his unpredictable personality.

The orange-hair episode is a gem, but my favorite involves a fire that left a Binghamton building filled with toxic PCBs.

Carey called scare stories “overblown,” and proclaimed, “I offer here and now to walk into Binghamton, to any part of that building and swallow an entire glass of PCBs.”

Now that’s leadership!