Senator, You’re No Jack Kennedy
By LisaB on June 7, 2008 at 5:35 PM in Barack Obama, Current Affairs, John F. Kennedy, John Kerry, John McCain
One of the more persistent (and pernicious) memes of this campaign so far is Obama as JFK. This is an unfortunate habit of presidential contenders – to try and siphon off some JFK gloss and call it their legacy.
Yawn. I won’t go into why this happens, that’s too obvious to bother with. And I won’t go into who has or has not done it. They’ve all done it. Senator Kerry, with his JFK and swiftboat experience (before THAT was turned against him), President Clinton with his looks and picture showing him shaking JFK’s hand, and now, Obama. Even Republicans get into the fealty line with Dan Quayle famously trying and getting smacked down by Lloyd Bentsen on national tv for his presumption.
Read more ->
Sigh. SusanUnPc wonderfully addressed this issue a few months back, and it’s definitely worth revisiting.
In January, The Washington Monthly published an article on this by Ted Widmer and here are a couple bits from an overall very interesting perspective.
John F. Kennedy is not running for anything in 2008, but you’d never know it. . . . Back in the U.S., no candidate has captured the reflected glory of JFK more than Barack Obama, thanks to his youth, eloquence, and message of change. The Kennedy-Obama parallel has been played up by the press, and Obama’s campaign has not discouraged those comparisons—indeed, it has brought in Ted Sorensen, JFK’s talented speechwriter, to make speeches and render the judgment of history.
The Obama campaign talks up his travels as justification for the candidate’s more “international” background and understanding – just like JFK. Widmer disputes that, explaining the difference between Kennedy’s travels and Obama’s. Specifically, he says Kennedy:
. . .made American officials uneasy with his relentless desire to see parts of Europe and the world that few Americans ever encountered. In 1939 alone, he took in the Soviet Union, Romania, Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Greece, France, Germany, Italy and Czechoslovakia. As the war was ending, he attended the San Francisco conference that created the United Nations, filing seventeen dispatches for the Chicago Herald American.
This, in addition to Kennedy’s time in the South Pacific during WWII, led to a:
. . . lively interest in world affairs as a young Congressman. In 1951 he went on two extraordinary journeys, the first a five-week trip to Europe, from England to Yugoslavia, to consider the military situation on the continent. Then, a few months later, a seven-week, 25,000-mile trek that included Israel, Iran, Pakistan, India, Singapore, Thailand, French Indochina, Korea and Japan. It was this trip, in particular, that awakened a sense in him that the old colonial empires were doomed, and that the French effort to keep Vietnam was especially futile.
Military commanders say nothing substitutes for “boots on the ground.” That partially means to understand a place or a situation, you really need to see it, go there, talk with people and not rely on other people’s perceptions or other type of filters no matter how comprehensive.
Recently, the Obama campaign poo-poohed the notion of the senator visiting Iraq. Although something of a stunt by the McCain campaign, the invitation to travel to Iraq with Senator McCain pointed up the fact that Obama has not visited there since January 2006. Given the great involvement by our troops and the expenditure of treasure in the Iraq war, it would not be a bad idea for a presidential candidate to form some personal impressions.
Unfortunately, the Obama campaign handled this idea with its usual intelligence and class by giving a political version of the Pee Wee Herman defense: “I know you are, but what am I?”
“On the day after the former White House press secretary conceded that the Bush administration used deception and propaganda to take us to war, it seems odd that Senator McCain, who bought the flawed rationale for war so readily, would be lecturing others on their depth of understanding about Iraq. Senator Obama challenged the President’s rationale for the war from the start, warning that it would divert resources from Afghanistan and the pursuit of Al Qaeda and mire us in an endless civil war. Senator McCain stubbornly insists on pursuing the failed Bush policy that continues to cost so much, while Senator Obama believes it’s time to begin a deliberate, careful strategy to remove our troops and compel the Iraqis to take responsibility for their own future,” – Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
Clearly the Obama campaign thought this statement a stinging rebuke to McCain’s invitation. I just think it shows a familiar stubbornness (I’m the Decider) and inability to deal with potential challenges to his firmly held, previously unassailable position on an issue. Hey, it’s not at all inconceivable Obama would return from such a trip more convinced his position is right. But he’d have a lot more information.
Bummer he’s not interested.
But why does this all come to mind today? Well, a perceptive blogger noted something interesting.
From the “hey, I like this lapel pin” Chicago Olympics meeting the other day, I saw again a pose that Sen. Obama (D-IL) likes to strike a lot. A lot.
It has been bug’n me for awhile in a “I have seen it before…” way. Well, finally my brain worked its way through all the lead paint chips I ate as a child.
There it is, right below.
Aaron Shickler’s iconic JFK portrait.
Accident? Think not.
Poseur.
Poseur?
Indeed.
by Ronald Scott
* More novels by 
* 
(
)
- You'll have access to 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books, as well as ultra-fast Web browsing with Amazon Silk -- faster than iPad. Full e-mail and document access and a keyboard. Fire can transmit what is on your screen onto a connected TV or monitor without an accessory. It runs Flash (iPad doesn't). 
Pingback: Martini Revolution » Congratulations to Senator Clinton
Pingback: Intelligence & Humility: JFK on Tape « Bud White’s World
Pingback: BO is the new JFK!! - Redux - and again. : NO QUARTER