The associations came fast and randomly. When I saw Caroline, I thought of John John reminiscing that they had played under the Monica Lewinsky desk.
I thought of all the Kennedys missing from that campaign dais, and how they should have set up empty stools for Bobby, murdered by an immigrant who brought his Old World grudges to America with him, JFK, murdered by a Communist for God knows what reason, Jackie, felled by cancer, and John Jr., who lost his way in bad weather and fatally crashed his plane. I wondered how each of them would have felt about endorsing Obama in a contested primary.
Any time I think of John Jr., I remember his quip in Chicago several years ago that he had come to visit the scene of two of the Kennedy family's most important purchases: Merchandise Mart and the 1960 presidential election.
Any time I think of Jackie, I remember Gorbachev's reply to a Western reporter, filtered through a translator, when the reporter asked him "what effect do you think it would have had on history if, in 1963, President Krushchev had been assassinated instead of President Kennedy?"
"It's very difficult to say," Gorbachev stammered, and did as much as he could to excuse his obvious unpreparedness for the question, then brightened and delivered the immortal retort: "However, it's probably safe to say that Onassis would not have married Mrs. Krushchev."
Okay, now down to the business at hand, which is comparing and contrasting Sen. Obama and the late President Kennedy. I will alternate comparisons and contrasts in this post, but you can use any format you like in Comments. Parallel columns, paragraphs, whatever. Have some fun with it, if you like. Anything from the prosaic to the picaresque. Just no racism, no profanity, and no flaming, please.
Comparison
Both are big-city ethnic politicians with Old Country family connections.
Contrast
Kennedy was born into a large, stable family under the same roof, provided by parents who stayed married for life. Obama's father abandoned the family when Barak was two. He had an Indonesian stepfather briefly, and a younger half-sister was born of that marriage. He was raised by his grandparents after his mother died. His father produced African half-siblings to Barak after he abandoned his American family and returned to his native Kenya.
Comparison
Neither man has ever been poor.
Contrast
As a junior Naval officer in World War II, Kennedy served in the South Pacific campaign against the Japanese. The hero of P.T. 109, he was awarded the Navy Cross and Montgomery Clift later portrayed him in a feature biopic. Obama has never served.
Comparison
Both were extraordinarily "green" on foreign policy, despite spending part of their childhoods overseas. Kennedy was quickly tested by the Soviet Union, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis nuclear brinksmanship. Obama's bravado about a hypothetical invasion of Pakistan, followed by a flip-flop, certainly attracted attention from our adversaries. He will be "tried."
Contrast
Obama appears to be a solid husband. Kennedy was a "hound," a serial adulterer whose personal staff and secretary procured suitable women for his afternoon delight, and occasionally had to detain Jackie outside the Oval Office when she arrived unexpectedly.
Comparison
Both men attended elite prep schools and had stellar academic careers at Harvard.
Contrast
Obama criticizes President Bush's decision to invade Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Kennedy criticized President Truman's failure to support Chiang Kai-shek in China.
Comparison
Both men are sharp dressers.
Contrast
Kennedy's Irish-American identity was obvious and inescapable. His Boston pronunciation was authentic. Obama's biracial multicultural heritage is ambiguous, and his self-identification as a Black American is a conscious act of will. The Hawaii-raised Harvard lawyer's Black American speech patterns are affected and intentional.
Comparison
Both men are portrayed as athletic by the media. Obama is reported to play basketball with staffers; Kennedy was often photographed playing touch football with extended family.
Contrast
The Catholic Kennedy would almost certainly have objected to abortion on demand. Obama has never met an abortion he didn't like, including partial-birth abortion, in which a viable human baby is partially delivered through the birth canal, then stabbed in the skull with scissors, which are then opened to create a hole in which a suction catheter is inserted to suck out the brains and collapse the skull, at the mother's request.
Comparison
Both ran against and debated more experienced, accomplished legislators in the primary. Kennedy ran against Lyndon B. Johnson, Senate Majority Leader and peerless master of the legislative process. Obama is running against Hillary R. Clinton, generally regarded as a hard-working, capable journeyman in the U.S. Senate. Both Johnson and Clinton pointedly remarked on their junior opponents' respective experience deficits.
Contrast
Kennedy was an avid amateur sailor; Obama was a surfer.
Comparison
Both men are assured of winning Cook County (Chicago), Illinois.
Contrast
Obama can win Cook County fair and square, without electoral fraud by the Daly machine.
Comparison
Both men had bases of solid, almost tribal bloc support. In Kennedy's case, it was Catholics, in Obama's, it is Black Americans. Media elites raised no objections to this, but were highly sensitive to tribalism among white Protestants in 1960 and among white males in 2008, describing it as bigotry.
Contrast
Obama appears to be in good health, aside from his cigarette habit. Kennedy was a medical wreck who was hospitalized 36 times and received last rites three times.
Comparison
Both men are considered charismatic, and experienced "Rock Star" adulation from people who are generally uninterested in issue politics. Their emphasis is on image and youth. Kennedy felt he represented the generation "born in this (20th) century."
Contrast
Kennedy was born into the Catholic Church. Obama opted into the United Church of Christ.
Comparison
Both men polled well among professional academics.
Contrast
Obama's mother died young. Kennedy's mother survived him and lived to 100.
Comparison
Both men's religion became an issue during national elections.
Contrast
Kennedy was pressured to distance himself from the Catholic Church. Obama was pressured to swear devotion to his church.
Comparison
Both men claimed a Christian spiritual confidante.
Contrast
Kennedy's Catholic family confessor was theologically orthodox (small o) Cardinal Francis Spellman. Obama's confidante is Afrocentric Rev. Jeremiah Wright of the United Church of Christ, which ordains gay ministers, favors gay marriage and is hostile to Israel. The website of Obama's congregation in Chicago says "We are an African people, and remain 'true to our native land,' the mother continent, the cradle of civilization." It lists a 10-point Vision, #4 of which is "a congregation with a non-negotiable commitment to Africa." It is a congregation 10) "working towards economic parity" and committed to 7) "the historical education of African people in diaspora," 8) "liberation" and 9) "restoration." Rev. Wright, who appears to be preoccupied with Black grandeur, has issued a grandiloquent paean to Nation of Islam jew-baiter Louis Farrakhan.
Comparison
Both men wrote bestselling books. Obama wrote The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, a memoir. Kennedy wrote Profiles in Courage.
Contrast
Obama's father, lamentably, lacked the "juice" (connections) to arrange a Pulitzer prize for his book. Kennedy was better blessed in this respect.
ALRIGHTY THEN...
Time for you to contribute your comparisons and contrasts in Comments. Remember, no racist stuff and no flaming. Have fun.
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