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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (99370)	2/13/2007 10:05:38 PM
From: Travis_Bickle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361379

Even other philandering husbands think Bill is a pig when it comes to women. Not so much that he cheated, but what he cheated with.

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (99370)	2/13/2007 10:14:53 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361379

Obama and Kennedy newsblogs.chicagotribune.com February 13, 2007 Posted by Naftali Bendavid at 7 am CST Much debate has revolved daround Barack Obama's self-conscious refernces to Abraham Lincoln during his presidential kickoff. Some are questioning whether Obama went overboard in identifying himself with America's best-loved president. Less attention, however, has focused on Obama's apparent emulation of another iconic president: John Kennedy. Obama's speech Saturday, hatless and gloveless on a frigid Springfield morning, recalled President Kennedy's inaugural address in 1961, when he too went hatless on a freezing morning in what seemed a symbol of youth and vigor. Kennedy back then spoke of passing the torch to a new generation, and Obama also talks of claiming the national leadership for a new generation. Kennedy wanted to move beyond the men who had led the country during World War II--Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower. Obama suggests it's time to move on from the fights of the Baby Boom generation, symbolized by Bill Clinton and George Bush, two polarizing presidents who represent the battling factions of their youth. Obama's style is also in some ways similar to that of President Kennedy's brother Robert. Both are gangly, youthful, charismatic figures. Already some political commentators are comparing crowds' reaction to Obama on the campaign trail to the passions inspired by Bobby Kennedy. RFK is sometimes described as the one figure who could have bridged the gaps of the 1960s, and Obama has positioned himself as a healer who could move beyond today's factions, between blue America and red America. It's hard to know if Obama and his team are self-consciously invoking the Kennedys, but it's a little hard to believe they're not. One big advantage for Obama of seeking the Kennedy mantle is that John Kennedy, like Obama, was a young, inexperienced senator whom many analysts at the time saw as insufficiently seasoned to handle the presidency. By sending signals that remind people of JFK, Obama conveys the message that he, too, is capable of an inspiring presidency. Obama, of course, is far from the first politician to appreciate the Kennedy mystique. Bill Clinton's team promoted a photo of the young Clinton shaking John Kennedy's hand, suggesting Clinton was JFK's heir. Some thought that Gary Hart, during his short-lived presidential run, was self-consciously imitating John Kennedy's walking style, slightly hunched with his hands in his jacket pockets. It's not a secret that candidates try to associate themselves with beloved former presidents; George W. Bush has regularly invoked the spirits of Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman, depending on his purpose. Today the three leading Republican candidates--John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney--all cite Ronald Reagan as they combat the image, damaging in the GOP primaries, that they are too liberal. The hard part for all politicians who make, or even hint at, such comparisons, of course, is living up to them.