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Barack Obama Kennedy

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This past Sunday, Caroline Kennedy penned this editorial in The NY Times, endorsing Barack Obama for President. A day later, her uncle, Senator Edward/Ted Kennedy also endorsed Obama, and both appeared with the candidate.

This is not a blog about politics, nor is it likely to ever become that. This is a blog about things that interest me on a personal level, that I wish to document or comment on, mostly for my own amusement.

Comedy, irony, satire, etc., are very important aspects of my life, and that’s the only reason that I choose to comment on this particular endorsement.

For the most part, Caroline Kennedy waxes eloquently. I have little doubt that it is heart-felt. But, both she and her famous uncle felt the overwhelming need to add either code words or code phrases to their respective endorsements, to ensure that people would understand that they were going out of their way to differentiate between Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Ted’s was less complicated, when he told the crowd at American University: “I know that he’s ready to be President on day one.” This was specifically targeted at no one other than Hillary Clinton, who continues to claim that Obama simply isn’t ready, but she (of course) is.

Back to Caroline. Her endorsement is very historic, and I don’t discount that. Why then, in choosing her anti-Hillary code phrase, did she have to muck it up so badly with the following?

“And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.”

True or not (meaning, Obama’s position on Iraq, versus Hillary’s), it actually separates Obama from her father, rather than making him the second coming of JFK. I found it quite ironic.

There is little doubt that JFK inspired the masses. If his life hadn’t been tragically cut short, who knows what else he might have accomplished. That said, there is also little doubt that he was instrumental in plunging us into the Vietnam war. A war that so many are so quick to equate with the current Iraq war. Here is one take on JFK’s role in Vietnam (typos and all).

He also came desperately close to plunging us all into World War III, with his handling of the Bay of Pigs.

History is a harsh mistress. We are all (myself included) geniuses at this moment in time looking back at President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, and second guess it. Most Americans feel the same way about our involvement in Vietnam. That said, while many blame and deride Bush with ulterior motives, few would hold JFK’s motives up to that same harsh light. He simply acted in good faith, and things didn’t work out as planned.

So, in my opinion, Caroline should have avoided that specific line of thought…

I should stop now, I know that (deeply). That said, since this is about irony, I simply can’t help myself. I can’t help recalling, now that we’re remembering past presidents and comparing them to current candidates (and their spouses perhaps?), that JFK also shared some very strong traits with Bill Clinton. In particular, their well-known dalliances. JFK was lucky enough to live in a time when it was unseemly even to report such matters, let alone investigate them…

Now back to our more regularly scheduled musings. 😉

Comments

7 responses to “Barack Obama Kennedy”

  1. bob Mooney Avatar
    bob Mooney

    agree 100%… more dialogue this weekend…. bob

  2. Charliemack Avatar
    Charliemack

    The Kennedys need to get out of politics. I am hoping that enough years have passed that the current voting population will have said kennedy? history!

    On another note, there should be no “throwing support” to a candidate by any group. If anything, let them educate the populus as to why a particular candidate is worthy to be the President of the US. I am tired of the arguing amonst the candidates because it is not about what they WILL DO but why the other person is wrong.

  3. Manuel A. Tellechea Avatar

    Caroline Kennedy Anointed Al Gore As JFK’s Successor in 2000

    Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama has been commented upon by virtually every blog in the nation. One would think that her father himself dictated it to her by means of a ouija board. It is, in fact, nothing more than the opinion of one individual. Except for her father’s hagiographers her opinion would have no more
    weight in this race than Amy Carter’s. But not all the presidents’ children are created equal. For some reason Onassis-heiress Caroline, who has done nothing noteworthy in her life except sell all of the her parent’s keepsakes at public auction from her mother’s wedding ring to her father’s rocking chair, is regarded by many Democrats as their party’s Holy Grail. They would have elevated her late brother to the White House on the basis of his “Y” chromosome even if he failed the bar exam a dozen times. As JFK’s sole surviving daughter she doesn’t meet the requirements of the Salic law of succession, but is nonetheless a powerful Roman matron who has the power to anoint future presidents, or so she and Democratic operatives seem to believe. This time around her conceit is actually being taken seriously by those in a position to effect the change she wants.

    Someone said (actually it was a blogger who ordinarily writes about working terriers) that “Caroline Kennedy has never said this before. It is the kind of thing that you say only once in your life.” But not if you are Caroline Kennedy. In 2000, she endorsed Al Gore with just as much canned passion and I would say enthusiasm if you take into consideration that it was Al Gore she was endorsing:

    “I know that when my brother, John, and I were growing up, hardly a day went by when someone didn’t come up to us and say, “your father changed my life. I went into public service because he asked me. I take great pride in knowing that one of those that he inspired to enter public service is the next vice president of the United States, Joe Lieberman.” — Endorsement Speech for Al Gore at the 2000 Democratic Convention

    “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.” — Endorsement of Barack Obama in The New York Times, January 27, 2008

    ***

    “I was lucky enough to grow up in a world where adults taught by example. They dreamed impossible dreams, yet they fought hard each day to make those dreams come true. They taught us the importance of faith and family and how those values must be woven together into lives of purpose and meaning. That is what my husband Ed and I want for our three children. That is what Al and Tipper Gore want for their children.” — Gore in 2000

    “I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.” — Obama in 2008

    Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg’s speech in support of Al Gore was aired in prime time and is remembered, if at all, because she revealed in it that Al Gore’s parents had played matchmakers to her parents. In a way, JFK played matchmaker to Obama’s parents, since as senator he drafted the legislation that brought Kenyan exchange students to the U.S., including Obama Sr., who met Barack’s mother at the University of Hawaii. Caroline’s father would no doubt be surprised that his organic heir and continuator is Obama Jr. (or leastwise his second organic heir and continuator).

    http://reviewofcuban-americanblogs.blogspot.com

  4. hadar Avatar

    Wow, very interesting, thanks for taking the time to comment here. Of course, I didn’t recall that she used extremely similar words in 2000 on behalf of Al Gore, someone who would really have been an agent of “change” after being VP for eight years. 🙂

  5. andrewwang Avatar
    andrewwang

    Speaking of Barack Obama:

    Barack Obama is a racial-minority individual, and in his heart and mind he inevitably does not endorse hate crimes committed by George W. Bush.

    George W. Bush committed hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism (indicated in my blog).

    George W. Bush did in fact commit innumerable hate crimes.

    And I do solemnly swear by Almighty God that George W. Bush committed other hate crimes of epic proportions and with the stench of terrorism which I am not at liberty to mention.

    Many people know what Bush did.

    And many people will know what Bush did—even to the end of the world.

    Bush was absolute evil.

    Bush is now like a fugitive from justice.

    Bush is a psychological prisoner.

    Bush has a lot to worry about.

    Bush can technically be prosecuted for hate crimes at any time.

    In any case, Bush will go down in history in infamy.

    Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
    B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
    Messiah College, Grantham, PA
    Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993

    “GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORST PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY” BLOG OF ANDREW YU-JEN WANG
    ______________________
    I am not sure where I had read it before, but anyway, it is a linguistically excellent statement, and it goes kind of like this: “If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.” Oh wait—off the top of my head—I think the quotation came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.

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