JFK-OBAMA???

I was speaking to a colleague of mine today about the JFK-Obama comparisons and I mentioned that it made me queasy. I am a big fan of both and my father, as one of eleven children in an Irish Catholic family, is a longtime fan and student of the Kennedy's. He educated me at a young age about the Kennedys and I love reading and learning about them to this day (though I am quite partial to Bobby over JFK). Anyway--here is our brief conversation (NOT corrected for grammar):


ED: very interesting...was talking to a good family friend the other day who is now a republican, but will vote for obama. when i asked him why, his response was simple: "our generation had JFK, your generation deserves obama"

BURNSY: see...all of that...makes me a little queasy...but im happy if that gets people out to vote for obama

ED: yea, i agree, but why does it make you queasy?

BURNSY: because expectations are certain to set up failure... it did with JFK himself...the whole romantic notion of camelot came well after JFK's death...what you got with JFK was young, inexperienced leadership that failed and succeeded...there was nothing magic, much like there is nothing magic about obama- they both had/have a tendency to lead people to get caught up in lofty, almost poetic rhetoric but such rhetoric isn't going to win you a floor fight in the house and its not going to convince palestinians and israelis to come together or shias and sunnis in iraq- that takes balls (or female equivalent) and hard work...SO...in short (or long rather) the JFK thing makes me queasy because its setting up false expectations

ED: i understand that. but sometimes, to bring a country together, you need them to have that hope or some goal that they see as something that will benefit the country. And sometimes failure or struggles can unite as well. He does give people hope more than any candidate has in our lifetime basically, so i see that as a strong positive

BURNSY: thats a fair, and well-taken point...and it is good to see a movement of young people (especially, though not exclusively) moved by the hope they see in obama...i just worry that when he is successful and is sworn in as the 44th president, too many will become disaffected by the realities of the difficulty and banality of the presidency and the pursuit of a legislative agenda

ED: and this has been one of the knocks on obama since day 1...and i can understand the concern of many with the lack of experience, as we saw with jfk. but, to sum it all up, it sure beats the hell out of hillary clinton

BURNSY: yes...it does...AND...in my mind, the best rationale for voting for obama is that he will help the democratic ticket all the way across the board- i think democrats (with him on the ticket) will be able to pick up seats in both houses of congress and make it easier to pursue the agenda

ED: i completely agree