Is Barack Obama the Second Coming of John F. Kennedy?
The list of politicians that have been designated to bear the mantle of our modern King Arthur is long, ranging from brothers Bobby and Teddy, to John Kerry. Even Jimmy Carter, for a half second during the 1976 campaign, was compared to JFK.
So it shouldn't be surprising when Caroline Kennedy opined the following:
"Over the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama."
Barack Obama has a gotten down the Kennedy style pretty well. He's handsome, can give a great speech, and has a beautiful family. Obama comes across as so likeable that even the most hard core conservative, while knowing that Obama's policies would wreck the Republic, admit to having warm, fuzzy feelings about the man. The fact that Obama is running against the Lady Macbeth of the 21st Century, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is icing on the cake. Many conservatives are praying that Obama beats Hillary just so that the cancer of the Clintons can be removed from the body politic.
But is Barack Obama the reincarnation of John F. Kennedy? On even cursory examination, the answer, with all due respect to Ms. Kennedy and her Uncle Ted, who will endorse Obama, is no.
Take foreign policy, for example. John F. Kennedy was a hawk. Obama, on the other hand, thinks that the way to solve problems with our enemies is to just-well-talk to them. Worse of all he is for a total bug out of Iraq, even on the brink of victory. So much for, "pay any price, bear any burden in the defense of liberty."
Domestic policy is even worse. John F. Kennedy was in favor of cutting taxes across the board, even using rhetoric that presaged Ronald Reagan. Obama, on the other hand, wants to raise taxes across the board.
Even on John F. Kennedy's signature accomplishment, the Moon landing, Obama falls far short. Obama wants to delay or even cancel much of President Bush's Vision for Exploration in order to pay for a rather dubious, big government education initiative. It is a cynical political maneuver, since opponents of this move will be painted as being against school children. There is no room in Obama's soaring rhetoric for, "We choose to go to the Moon in this decade..."
There is one thing in which Obama is unlike any Kennedy male that for sure Ms. Obama must be grateful for. Obama, unlike John Kennedy, does not seem to have the need to try to mount every woman that he comes across. If there is an Obama Presidency, especially when the eight years of Clinton are still fresh in memory, Americans will be thankful for this as they begin to count their new tax bills and contemplate the beginning of a series of foreign policy disasters that will surely follow.
Sources: A President Like My Father, Caroline Kennedy, The New York Times, 27 January, 2008
Published by Mark Whittington
Mark R. Whittington is a writer residing in Houston, Texas. He is the author of The Last Moonwalker, Children of Apollo, Dark Sanction, and Nocturne. He has written numerous articles, some for the Washington... View profile
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12 Comments
Post a CommentI voted for Barak Obama. In retrospect, he was our first real 'television president.' He looked good, we'd been prepped for him by shows like '24' etc. But unfortunately, he is over his head.
Please keep religion and revelations out of things here. Your history is not recorded in that book. My own daughter did not vote for Obama for fear that "he might be the Antichrist." (Don't gag or choke here.) My Luo wife and I both know that Barack Obama is not the" second coming" of John F. Kennedy. Both men come across as very likeable, but this is simply the "first coming" of Barack Obama.
We are living in our last days. What does it matter? Change or No Change. ALPHA AND OMEGA IS COMIMG!!!!!!!
Sigh... Kennedy set a human lunar goal in order to demonstrably defeat the Soviets in a contest of missile technology superiority. In the absence of such a Cold War driver, why should Obama, or any Presidential candidate, support a human lunar program that's only going to repeat what the U.S. accomplished a half century ago? What a waste of money...
Draw your own conclusions, Mark (smile)... Please read and think about "Camelot Revised" at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/583261/john_f_kennedy_robert_f_kennedy_barack.html and let me know what you think. Regards, Michael
Bush wants tax cuts to the top 3% of wealth holders made permanent. Obama thinks that should be reversed with the rich paying there fair share and giving the tax cuts to the middle class as it should be. I have seen coming to pass in my lifetime the government "plot" to tax the middle class out of existence. Even Bill Clinton was inspired by JFK by dodging the draft. I think the "second coming" is exaggerated thinking. The ability to inspire and motivate people is where the comparison comes in to play. A man in France likened Obama to Bobby Kennedy. Others see him as a Dr. King look alike. I see a bit of Malcolm X in him with the "just say no to drugs" type messages. What I see is the little boy who stood up and shouted: But the Emperor has no clothes on. It is Kucinich, not Obama who calls for immediate pull out of all our troops. Obama knows we can not just walk away from the mess we made of that country. Diplomacy first is always the best way, btw.
As far as Obama calling for change. I am sure the change he has in mind would result in an outcome similar to the change Jimmy Carter brought America as opposed to the change Ronald Reagan brought to clean that mess up.
A broken leg is change, falling off a lasdeer is change, bubonic plague is change. Death is change. Change is not a sufficient condition in and of itself.
I am afraid we cannot afford to let Obama play with the ship of state, we do not have another Reagan waiting in the wings to help it get unstuck.
You think the poor are suffering now? Let Obama make his changes and watch them and us in the middle class suffer again like we did in the late 70's.
Liberals talk helping the poor and then go after the nasty rich. Then the nasty rich take their money and jobs ovearseas and leave the poor unempolyed. That sure helps. Liberals woud rather we all be poor than one person be rich.
Alyce, I suggest you read "Atlas Shrugged" sometime. I think it might open y
Alyce,
If you want to spend money on the poor, I suggest you sell your computer, a result of the Apollo program, and all your other worldly possessions. Then move back to the rift valley in Africa our ancestors walked out of before solving all the Earth's problems. Please stay there until you have solved all of the worlds problems. The get back to us via carrier pigeon and let us know how it is working out.
Democrats said these same things about Clinton 1 in 1992, and look how many of them want to tear the Clintons down now.
It is good of you to raise these questions without resorting to the cheap shots many people are taking at Obama. Personally, i've no problem with the man except that all I am positive he wants to do is...change. That is the one commodity he claims to have in abundance. He's definately a classy guy, but I can't shake the feeling that he's full of it.