Nov 22 2008
Obama: JFK Remix?
From the throngs of adoring fans, you’d think the President-Elect was JFK come again. The comparisons to larger-than-life figures like JFK, whose own iconic image is washed in a healthy cup of mythical soft-spin, makes us ask: What if he really is like JFK? Let’s hope not.
JFK was not the most loyal of allies. When the chips were down, you could count on Kennedy to turn and run, leaving untrained amateurs to be slaughtered. That’s what happened during a little something known as “The Bay of Pigs.” In April of 1961, Kennedy ordered American troops to abandon their Cuban counterparts as Castro’s army successfully and brutally squelched the U.S. plan to overthrow him. That’s right, Kennedy ran. It was this reaction that no doubt gave Russia the hubris to threaten the US. Why wouldn’t they? Our President wimped out once.
Maybe Obama is like Kennedy, but he doesn’t live in Kennedy’s era. Things are different now. There’s no way Kennedy would get away with his womanizing and drug abuse in the Information Age. So, if he is like Kennedy, brace yourselves for scandal. We had to put up with it during the Clinton era, and if the predictions of Obama’s Kennedyism are correct, we’ll get to see it all again. (Remember, back in the nineties, Clinton was the one who was compared to Kennedy.)
For the life of me, I can’t figure out why we venerate Kennedy as some sort of mythical leader. He wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
