The JFK myth

Caroline Kennedy who wears the mantle of her father and now her uncle Edward Kennedy have put money on Barak Obama. He, they say, has the same magnetism her father and his brother had in running for the presidency. He has awakened the youth who steadfastly embraced a political quietism, he has brought them back to the polls; he has aroused from a stupo[u]r a demoralised electorate long dissatified with the right wing drift of Bush & his cronies. He has become a cheer leader of 'yes we can' , 'race doesn't matter', a bringing together of Americans and a healer of the politically sick. 18Brumaire does not dispute Obama's appeal, but prick the bubbles of soundbytes, and what do you find...air, hot air. Some may say well FDR appealed to the American electorate in the same way. That, we fear, is a misreading of history. FDR had ideas to right the wrongs of a depression; he had a programme, but what has Obama?
He has positions, and say on healthcare he's very cautious in the face of a horrendous private healthcare system which favours the insurance industry who take your money in premiums but won't pay when you're ill, or short changes you every time they can, and almost with impunity. He has praise for the 'sainted' Ronald Reagan though he doesn't agree with his politics, yet we wonder why he does praise FDR? Let's face it, Obama like JFK rode in on his high horse of much promise, and like JFK will prove a timid leader and very conservative in his politics. He is relatively wet behind the ears, were he more bold than we think he is, that wouldn't matter much. He's not. Like JFK, he will have to bomb out his chest to prove in war and peace he's a macho man. And we all know how forceful JFK was when it came to Bull O'Conner--you had to drag him into the fight for civil rights. We all know how he let the CIA loose and fed the war in Vietnam, and what the tragic results of his 'new politics'.