WELLINGTON -- Doris Day and James Stewart play a couple who accidentally stumble onto a planned political assassination in The Man Who Knew Too Much. Indeed, Doris Day's refrain, "Que sera sera" - whatever will be will be - became a mantra for the 1950s. First released in 1956, the film recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. In Alfred Hitchcock's film the assassination is averted.
But life does not always mimic art.
It has been 39 years since the slaying of Robert Kennedy at Los Angeles' venerable Ambassador Hotel. Kennedy had just won the 1968 California Democratic primary. The Illinois primary was around the corner. Kennedy looked to be the sure presidential nominee.
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A war was raging. Kennedy hoped to unify a divided United States.
Today, Barack Obama, democratic senator of Illinois, and Hillary Clinton, democratic senator of New York, are the leading contenders for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. Both carry the mantle passed on by Kennedy. Bobby could have only dreamed that a woman and an African-American would be the frontrunners for his party's nomination.
A war is raging again, and the United States seeks a candidate to unify it once more.
When the Democratic convention convenes next year in Denver, it will be exactly 40 years and one month to the date of the Kennedy assassination. I have yet to decide which candidate I will ultimately support.
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Whoever the nominee is - and there are other good candidates as well - the person selected will have to unify a severely divided America. And it will not be enough to be a peacemaker; the candidate will have to guarantee US security and regain the confidence of a suspect world. In many ways the candidate will have to carry forth Kennedy's vision.
More....
http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070604-054923-9167rKennedy declared his candidacy on March 16, 1968 stating, "I do not run for the Presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I'm obliged to do all I can."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedyhe challenged the complacent in American society and sought to bridge the great divides in American life - between the races, between the poor and the more affluent, between young and old, between order and dissent. His 1968 campaign brought hope and challenge to an American people troubled by discontent and violence at home and war in Vietnam. He won critical primaries in Indiana and Nebraska and spoke to enthusiastic crowds across the nation.
http://www.rfkmemorial.org/lifevision/biography/"He wasn't very good at telling the slick one-liners his speechwriters invented for his appearances at large functions. Audiences would titter dutifully, but it was only when he became serious that they were captured. In small towns and rural areas, he abandoned stand-up comedy routines entirely and, with his informality and wry humor, developed an open hones sense of community with the people."
http://www.bsu.edu/library/article/0,,25861--,00.html
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