The Democrats need a new Bobby Kennedy

[T_i_B]

Article from today's UK Guardian. I think this is all hero worship myself but you lot can make of this what you will.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1994747,00.html

Across my generation, Robert Kennedy still casts a shadow like no other political leader. Through the fragile grace of his life and the hesitant magnificence of his words, he embodied what we hoped the world might become. When he died, he became the great might-have-been. And so, in our smaller, still living way, did our generation.

I have Bobby Kennedy's picture on my wall, and a book of his speeches is always within arm's length as I write. Emilio Estevez, whose film about the senator's assassination opens next week, is more passionate still. He says in a New Statesman interview that Kennedy's death marked the end of decency. America, he believes, has spent the past four decades trying to put the pieces back together again. One knows what he means, but that's not quite right. The years through which Bobby Kennedy lived were hardly one of the human race's finest eras. The America in which he died was no pre-lapsarian Eden. What is true, though, is that in Kennedy many of us all too briefly saw the best of ourselves. Norman Mailer captured it when he wrote from the campaign trail in 1968 that it was incredible and marvellous just to think of Kennedy as president. That was exactly how it felt here too. Crafty Harold Wilson was the best we could manage. But Kennedy could illumine not just America but the whole world.

It is hard to imagine it today. Look at the newsreel of ordinary people standing and saluting by the railway tracks to watch the coffin as it was taken to Washington for burial. You are watching America's Diana moment. Imagine who in American life today could summon such a huge turnout. Certainly not the current president, and probably not his predecessor, though that's rather more likely. Not Hillary Clinton either.

Barack Obama may one day evoke that kind of love. On the surface, Obama's embryonic campaign has some qualities that Kennedy's had. He too has hesitated publicly before subjecting himself to the fray. He too attracts vast audiences, full of hope, because he promises the future not the past. He has an ease with the language that sets him apart. And, merely by joining the race, he is rewriting the odds.

[Bombtrack]

1. If Bobby Kennedy could speak, I don't think he'd believe himself superior to Obama

Think of what Obama hasn't had that Bobby did.

We're also living in a much more distracted, masses-out-of-touch-from-what's-important times. If Obama can resonate in any way close to the way Bobby did, in many ways he's showing a greater power and ability to do so.

[TomClash]

4. Think of what Bobby articulated that Obama hasn't

Ideals transcending platitudes.

Think of what Bobby lost - two brothers.

[beaconess]

9. How do you know what Obama has or hasn't articulated?

Have you read his books? Or listened to more than soundbytes?

Obama has articulated much more than you seem to think he has. And as the campaign progresses, America will see a lot more of what this man thinks and feels - and I think most people will be impressed.

Here's a sampling:

"It's beyond my skill as a writer to capture that day (September 11, 2001), and the days that would follow . . . Nor do I pretend to understand the stark nihilism that drove the terrorists that day and that drives their brethren still. My powers of empathy, my ability to reach into another's heart, cannot penetrate the blank stares of those who would murder innocents with abstract, serene satisfaction.

"What I do know is that history returned that day with a vengeance; that, in fact, as Faulkner reminds us, the past is never dead and buried - it isn't even past. This collective history, this past, directly touches my own. Not merely because the bombs of Al Qaeda have marked, with eerie precision, some of the landscapes of my life - the buildings and roads and faces of Nairobi, Bali, Manhattan; not merely because, as a consequence of 9/11, my name is an irresistible target of mocking websites from overzealous Republican operatives. But also because the underlying struggle - between worlds of plenty and worlds of want; between the modern and the ancient; between those who embrace our teeming, colliding, irksome diversity, while still insisting on a set of values that binds us together, and those who would seek, under whatever flag or slogan or sacred text, a certainty and simplification that justifies cruelty toward those not like us - is the struggle set forth, on a miniature scale, in this book.

"I know, I have seen, the desperation and disorder of the powerless: how it twists the lives of children on the streets of Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way as it does the lives of children on Chicago's South Side, how narrow the path is for them between humiliation and untrammeled fury, how easily they slip into violence and despair. I know that the response of the powerful to this disorder - alternating as it does between a dull complacency and, when the disorder spills out of its proscribed confines, a steady, unthinking application of force, of longer prison sentences and more sophisticated military hardware - is inadequate to the task. I know the hardening of lines, the embrace of fundamentalism and tribe, dooms us all.

"And so what was a more interior, intimate effort on my part, to understand this struggle and to find my place in it, has converged with a broader public debate, a debate in which I am professionally engaged, one that will shape our lives and the lives of our children for many years to come."

---Barack Obama, Preface to the 2004 Edition of "Dreams from my Father," originally published in 1995.

Obama has gone far beyond mere platitudes - he is a deep and compassionate thinker who has deep and complex ideals that he is extremely capable of communicating in ways that everyone can understand and identify with. He is truly inspiring and I'm looking forward to his contribution to the presidential race.

[TomClash]

10. Look I like the guy

I think he's got the potential to be a major statesman and a fine President.

But I think you miss the point. That's a nice passage. But it does not articulate new, concrete, exciting and coherent policies. What, for example, does he say about US relations with China and Latin America? Will he confront China and cooperate with at least some of the leftists governments in Latin America? What about Palestine? Does he articulate a fairer, more balanced view there? Or is it more of the same Likudnik uber alles that we see from the other candidates?

[beaconess]

13. That's not what you said

You didn't complain about his failure to articulate a comprehensive China policy within a few days after forming his exploratory committee - you claimed he didn't have any "ideals beyond platitudes." Now you've moved the goalposts.

But why don't you wait and see what he presents to the American people over the next year before trashing him as a lightweight?

[TomClash]

21. Gee, do you want me to hate the guy?

Your quote was a nice collection of platitutdes. It was campaign "blah, blah, blah look how I got to my philosophy, blah, blah blah, a new kind of politics, blah blah blah." I am a veteran of many campaigns at all levels. I've heard all this before.

Within "a few days of forming his exploratory committee" is a phony syllogism. As a United States Senator he should already have a comprehensive China policy. After all, he sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a seat he went after.

I didn't say he was a lightweight. I know why he has not articulated specific poicy positions and he's right not to do so. He does not want to be seen as a policy wonk, Harvard Law Review geek and he doesn't want to be attacked on policy positions one year before the first primary. Besides, most people aren't interested.

[snowbear]

11. Right on beaconess !!

Best response outta the whole lot on here!

[karynnj]

14. So was Bobby Kennedy

Read his speech given in Indianapolis the evening of MLK's death - this had to be off the cuff just given the timing - it was eloquent, meaningful and heartfelt - and it likely saved Indaianpolis from the riots that burned many inner-cities that night.

I like Obama and am impressed that Kerry saw in a barely known Illinois state Senator someone who could give an excellent keynote speech which was genuinely uplifting. Time will show if he is what he seems he may be - if so the nation will be lucky to have him. At this point, it is way to early to speak of him as a new Bobby Kennedy.

[beaconess]

18. I didn't say Bobby Kennedy WASN'T

And I never claimed that Obama is a new Bobby Kennedy.

I simply responded to someone who attacked Obama for failing to express any "ideals beyond platitudes."

However, I think it's a mistake for us to try to find a "new Bobby Kennedy." I don't want Barack Obama to be the new Bobby Kennedy. I want him to be Barack Obama.

Even Bobby Kennedy wasn't Bobby Kennedy until very near the end of his life. We need to stop living in the past trying to find new old heroes and look for new leaders who will carve their own molds and create new movements. It's not fair to us and it's not fair to our current leaders and it does a disservice to the legacy of great men and women like Bobby Kennedy, Dr. King, JFK, etc. to constantly expect our new leaders to live up to standards that never really existed. No one can ever measure up to a martyred ghost.

[karynnj]

19. sorry - I agree 100%

[mark414]

2. america could definitely use a president like obama

[Captain Hilts]

3. But, but...he was a thug for Sen. Joseph McCarthy. nt

[mcscajun]

5. I'd hardly call him McCarthy's thug.

He worked for McCarthy during the time of the infamous Committee, true. He resigned in July of 1953 because while Kennedy was anti-Communist, as it was easy to be then when the threat seemed so real and emotions ran high, he had misgivings over McCarthy's methods (there was also a falling-out with Roy Cohn, another prominent member of McCarthy's staff). It's illuminating that nearly all the Democrats working with McCarthy resigned in that same year, as McCarthy's power grew following his reelection (1952) and assumption of the chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Government Operations.

I'd hardly reduce the man's stature by calling him "McCarthy's thug" after all the positive achievements in his later career. Or were you missing a :sarcasm: smiley somewhere?

[durtee librul]

6. We already have someone who

reminds me a lot of both the Kennedy boys and that is John Edwards. Sorry all you Obama fans, but JRE is my guy. I would absolutely love to see an Edwards/Obama ticket with several of our other leading dem candidates as cabinet members (i.e. Wes Clark Sec of defense). We are soooooo going to need a calm, steady hand at the helm to right this ship of ours after the last 2 terms of the crooks and liars brigade.

And for all you out there who don't care for JRE, all I ask is that you LISTEN to what he has to say with an open mind and get past all that 'pretty boy trial attorney' crap.

BTW, I have been following him LONG before he was involved in the '04 race.

AND last but not least, I carry Obama's speech to the dem convention in my daytimer and I do like him a lot, but I'm just not sure if he really is ready for the title fight yet....maybe next time, but....

so go ahead and flame away...

[xkenx]

7. I remember Bobby well, and until late 2003 I passively participated in

politics, voting Democrat, but never being sufficiently inspired. Not any more! I saw in Wes Clark the same true caring for ALL the people, someone who has acted upon his principles of duty, honor, country throughout his life. To know Wes Clark is to be inspired like no one since Bobby Kennedy. We will have an opportunity in 2008 to have such a person as president. Fellow Dems., don't blow it.

[jen4clark]

12. I'm with you, xkenx!

I was a bit young when RFK was here, but no one has ever inspired me to be involved the way General Clark has and continues to do. He is a gift to our nation and I hope he runs!

[beaconess]

8. Interestingly, those of us who loved RFK rarely cite any of his job experience as what we loved best

about him.

What made Bobby Kennedy resonate with so many - and continues to resonate nearly 40 years after his death - are qualities that went beyond the four corners of his job resume. We rarely hear anyone note that he was Attorney General or list any of his accomplishments in the Senate (did he have any?) as reasons that they supported him and love him to this day. We instead look at his courage, his intelligence, his optimism, his belief that people can make this country better, his ability to inspire, his simple eloquence, his decency, his empathy, etc.

Bobby Kennedy is a perfect example of why the "Obama doesn't have enough experience" or "Edwards was only in the Senate for six years" arguments against these candidates just don't hold water for me. I believe that the ability to be a fine and effective president is based on more than one's resume, but really depends upon the qualities and character of the person.

[karynnj]

15. Perhaps we should ask Ted Kennedy who he sees

carrying on his brothers' torch - he has named one person, John Kerry.

[Codeblue]

16. However

We learned the hard way in 2004 that he can't hold that mantle. He in no way inspires people like Bobby Kennedy did. He is a boring speaker with very little charisma and we saw that in 04.

It was a prime opportunity to oust Bush and, stolen election aside, we blew it with Kerry. He just wasn't very likable. RFK...well Kerry can't even hold a candle to him.

Perhaps we should ask his son to become more involved. Though that might alos be a bad idea as it seems the more one gets involved in the political arena, the less human they become. That's another issue. All of this talk about a lack of experience is B.S. to me. The less experienced they are the better I think. We need to wipe Congress and replace it with all new blood. Then maybe something will change in this backwards country.

[karynnj]

17. Ted Kennedy said it after the election

Kerry is quite likeable when people see him and was routinely called charismatic from 1971 to 2000.

By the way, he easily beat Edwards to get the nomination and Hillary thought Bush unbeatable that year.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

20. we've got one but she's female and maybe even smarter! folks just call her Nancy in DC & Baltimore..