The New JFK: “One man has captured the heart of the new America”
William Rees-Moog weighs in on the US Presidential race in a Times of London piece whose title, at a minimum, says a good deal about the media, and maybe about the current state of politics as well:
Barack Obama — a John Kennedy for our times: One man has captured the heart of the new America
It is hard to see who can stop Senator Barack Obama becoming the next President of the United States. He has built up an excitement such as no candidate has created since President Kennedy in 1960. He is, in my view, a better speaker than Kennedy. Like Kennedy, he combines personal magnetism with a strong appeal to American idealism. Like Kennedy, he is young and speaks for the new generation of American politics. By ordinary political reckoning, 2008 ought to be the Democrats’ year. In 2006 they captured both houses of Congress in mid-term elections…
the core argument of the Obama campaign is both powerful and timely. In American politics each generation looks for a renewal. That may come from either party; it is not simply a matter of a swing from the right to the left. In the first half of the past century it came from Theodore Roosevelt as a Republican and from Franklin Roosevelt as a Democrat…There was a renewal of hope in the Ronald Reagan presidency but there has been little renewal since Reagan’s time, which ended 24 years ago.
Senator Obama offers a new generation of ideas that appeal to a new generation of voters. He is the presidential candidate of the young. Senator Clinton and Senator McCain belong to older generations. Americans do not want to return to the issues of the 1990s with Clinton, let alone the 1960s with McCain. Senator Obama identifies with the issues of the 21st century. In 2008 these issues are more relevant than those of a generation ago.
Maybe it will all turn out the way the Rees-Moog sees it. We don’t know. Maybe Obama really is the New JFK, as the media keeps insisting he is. Maybe JFK would be campaigning today saying things like this about the kids on stage at a rally: “It’s a good-looking bunch…They’re like a Benetton ad.” Maybe America is being re-branded after all. Maybe. But why are today’s inevitabilities any more certain than the very different inevitabilities of six months ago?
February 18th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Well, it’s not only the liberal arm of the media that has lost its — shall we say “equilibrium” — this election cycle. Conservative Republicans — define them how you wish — who are not particularly thrilled about John McCain (more specifically, we were Romney supporters) have been labeled by the WSJ, Victor Davis Hanson, Mark Halperin (get a load of him!), Bill Kristol, Byron York, and the Maggie’s Farm types as (just for starters) petulant, immature, hysterical, nativist, single-issue, ignorant, childish, angry, unreasonable, rancorous, etc.
Hey, now that really went a long way toward changing my feelings about the candidate.
Alot of Barack supporters are the educated, upper income folks. Telling them they’re stupid and idealistic is not going to do anything.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Where’s Lloyd Benson when we need him?
February 18th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
He’s working at the Governor’s mansion, isn’t he?
February 19th, 2008 at 9:18 am
The campaign hasn’t even begun, and the he’s inevitable?
If I want my soul saved, I’ll go to church. Obama is a secular version of Mike Huckabee, minus the experience.