As an early boomer who lived through the JFK and RFK times

[blues90]

I must say and express how I feel . This has nothing to do with candidates in specific , what it has to do with is what this feels like .

I can't separate my past from the present , I can't ignore what I went through all these years or like I hear today , lets move forword . I look at moving forword and wonder what this really means , does it mean the all is forgotten and forgiven for what this bush admin has done , well not for me .

I hear Kerry and think , well certainly yoy want to move on since I sight you as the one who made a promise to the people and we trusted you and you backed down and ran off and left us hanging with 4 more years .

I respect the Kennedy's however I don't really know how I feel about the latest gathering and rage .

as far as I am concerned all politicians have their past and faults . I have this hope when JFK held the promise but this was nothing like these days , the present times , nothing like it at all and i wonder if JFK were running for president today what would he have to say to the people . If RFK were running today what would he say to the people . Like I said the 60's were so different in so many ways that I cannot compare them to 2008 .

As an old boomer I saw the draft and the death of many friends and the hope we would never see this horror ever again but here we are in a high tech global world with all sorts of hardship and horror .

Yes we have these primaries and I am not happy watching this in fighting of being told the past doesn't matter because the past is yesterday and the day before that and 40 odd year ago .

I have a drean still rings in my ears and yet the dream was crushed many times and all is forgotten in that sense . It still matter to me because I lived through that .

We didn't have any great candidate in 2004 , today who knows , the media has the control and can frame anything anyway they chose .

So no , I don't have optimism and this drummed up hope becuase hope may inspire and gather crowds but who knows when the voting begins how many will vote and for what reason , I personally have no idea .

What I do know is what I have experienced through the years and all the hope on earth will not bring back lifes or truth , it takes more than hope and certainly will not be a moving forward when bashing and ranting and cheering play the main role .

The youth are the future , learn from past mistakes , don't make the same mistakes we did many years ago and don't forget , everyone wants the same things in life , the same basic things so don't drop your guard and buy into emotion because in politics there is no emotion , in politics you find a battle for the crown and nothing more .

I am amased that people are told to move on from the past but we are also seeing the past brought to the present with examples of comparision . This in itself is none sense .

Racism and sexism and poverty still exist in this country , JFK and MLK and RFK tried to end this , they are all gone now and cannot be brought back . No president can end these issues , it takes the people , it takes each individual not a movement to decide to leave these issues behind to effect change . Elections come along every two and four years but a population and their ideals and prejudice live on for generations .

So I am done with the insanity I see going on now . When all is said and done then deal with it and you will see how it all proves out and not one second before and don't forget there is still 11 months of the bush admin and the wars rage on .

[movonne]

1. Don't you think that having a black president would go a long way

with healing the racism issue...I see the younger generation coming up and they don't seem to have the prejudice against blacks and gays...right now I am a Edwards supporter and will stick with him, but if I can't have him I would be very happy with Obama...I have no dislike for hillary but we do not need 8 years more of the clintons and all the baggage they bring..

[Rageneau]

3. I'm a Boomer, too, and I want a GOOD president more than a black president.

Or female president or atheist president or freckled president or non-smoking president. A wise and capable president would advance race relations (and serve every other issue) better than someone whose primary qualification was pigmentation.

Oh, and as to the baggage the Clintons bring, all I remember about them was eight years of peace and unmatched prosperity, sprinkled with a half-dozen right-wing witch hunts intended to overthrow the US government via a media lynching.

[blues90]

5. A good president is the most important thing

I don't feel some historical moment is what this country needs right now . This is what it seems to be about when we are in dangerous times .

There is a power structure in this country that no matter who the president is if they go against this power they can end up like JFK , MLK and RFK .

I did much better with Clinton in office and to be fair they tried to take him down from the start . He still got things done and got the youth out to vote . I can't say I blame him for his anger after what they did to him and not only the BJ deal but all through his two terms .

This along tells me he would do his best to bring this repub party down .

[zanne]

7. As a female Boomer, I want a good president more than a female president. nt

[blues90]

4. Perhaps , this is a good point , however

When you consider the number of people who actually vote it does not take into account all the youth as well as all generations who are still prejudice and sexist , you read about nooses , well that is pretty sick .

So even if Obama wins I still have to wonder what the overall effect will be . It's not only racial and sexist issues there is a hate within religious groups and consider these mall and school shootings . There still exists hate and who knows what drives this , you can't catagorize these issues really .

I want to stay away from commenting on the candidates because this is part of the madness and part of the problem we face which is not really so different than racial or sexist issues .

I will say i am not inspired by any of the candidtes left in the so called race . They all have their issues that I cannot get past . We really did not get to pick who we wanted unless we write in a name which does no good .

[JohnnyLib2]

2. Wise words, thanks.

Having shared those years, I can only add that I kinda miss the passionate hopes and beliefs held then. Miss them, and know that the world just won't change that easily. :thumbsup:

[blues90]

6. I miss them too .

And we know damn well that this world especially now will not be changed easily if it can now be changed at all . We had a better chance in the 60's because we were admired by most of the world , not any more , now we are the terrorists of the globe .