Echoes of the past, hope for the future

Echoes of the past, hope for the future They include: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…The energy-the faith-the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it and the glow from that fire can truly light the world." Reading those words brings back—powerfully—an era of hope, where everything seemed possible. Young Americans almost welcomed the challenges our country faced, secure in the belief that we would overcome them. Tens of thousands of young people answered the President's call to join the "Peace Corps." Equal numbers joined the government in order to make a difference. America took a major step forward as blacks and whites together fought segregation throughout the South. The President announced that the United States would have a man on the moon in a decade and no one doubted we could make it happen. That special feeling remains frozen in time, the President's tenure cut short by his assassination. Who knows how history would have been different were it not for that act? Would the President have followed the same course in Vietnam, which his successor chose? Would we still have gone through the years of turmoil, assassinations (including the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy), riots in many of our largest cities, and massive demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War? Would the enthusiasm and hope that the new President and his wife generated have dissipated over time, worn down by the daily grind of politics and perhaps even by scandal? Would there have been concrete results to match our lofty expectations? We will never know the answer to those questions. All we know is that his assassination meant the sudden end of an era of hope and (perhaps naïve) optimism and the beginning of years of despair and pessimism. While many have tried to call up the Kennedy magic since that time 48 years ago, virtually no one has come close to succeeding. Until now. It comes from a very unlikely source: a comparatively young (46 years old) son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother whose story comes right out of the "American dream." He first came to national attention when he gave the Keynote Address at the Democratic Nominating Convention four years ago. At the time he was only a state Senator in Illinois. But his speech, hitting all the same refrains he has consistently repeated (the need for unity; overcoming divisions; working together for the common good; and confidence in a better future), electrified the audience. Barack Obama may not get his party's nomination. He has a formidable opponent in Hillary Clinton, who can match him in campaign funding, has a skilled and experienced campaign staff, and at least until recently, a massive lead in all polls. With the recent withdrawal of John Edwards, the Democratic nomination for President now is a head-to-head competition between the two of them. They actually differ very little on most major issues, so the campaign will be decided far more on voters' assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates themselves. Obama has recently gotten two major boosts: an overwhelming win in the most recent democratic primary in South Carolina and the endorsements of Senator Edward Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy. Both of them directly anointed Obama as the successor to the late President and specifically cited his ability to bring out hope and inspiration in people that has been absent for far too long. Caroline Kennedy's endorsement was entitled "A President Like My Father" and ended with these sentences: "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans." Powerful words spoken by one of the few entitled to speak them. Hillary Clinton and her campaign have sensed the danger from the Obama candidacy for some time and have tried different strategies to bring him down. She at first stressed her experience (actions not words) until it became apparent that the key word the public was looking for was what Obama was emphasizing: change. She is also frustrated that while she is the first woman in history to be a serious candidate for President of the United States, Obama has skillfully portrayed her as part of the past, not the future. She has now begun to attack Obama both straightforwardly herself and in more aggressive (and questionable) ways through surrogates. In what in retrospect may be regarded as the major turning point in the Presidential elections of 2008, she unleashed her husband, former President Bill Clinton to play an active, vigorous, and aggressive role in her campaign - attacking Senator Obama relentlessly and with passion. This has had the following repercussions: -To some extent, the Clinton strategy has worked, in that Senator Obama has shown visible signs of anger and at times has responded in kind to attacks, helping to have him seen as just another politician - but one lacking in experience and seniority. -Particularly among the Democrats, the former President remains a highly popular, charismatic figure that provides real energy to her campaign. -At the same time, having a former President as spouse of the candidate is unprecedented and his active role has raised questions about its propriety. It has also revived all the old emotions about him and his Presidency. More than anything else, this will energize the conservative Republican base to vote massively for their candidate. This becomes particularly important if the Republican candidate is John McCain, who appeals to independent and moderate voters. This in turn increasingly worries influential figures in the Democratic Party. -The manner of the attacks have led one prominent black leader to advice Bill Clinton to "chill" and have done real damage to Hillary's support in the black community. Even if it helps her to beat Obama, it will hurt her considerably in the actual campaign against John McCain. -Finally, it is hard to square the image of Hillary Clinton as a feminist, independent woman candidate when at the same time she is relying so heavily on her husband for help. It is quite possible that both the Democratic and Republican nominations will be decided in three days on "Super Tuesday," when about half of the delegates to the respective conventions will be chosen. Both races have been essentially winnowed down to two candidates: John McCain and Mitt Romney on the Republican side and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic. It is possible that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will win a sufficient number of the delegates at stake to declare the race all but over. But it is equally possible that the two are running so close together that the campaign could drag out for a very long time. This actually would be beneficial to the Republican nominee, as the potential for the two Democrats to fatally wound each other in order to prevail is fairly high. The recent flap over racial issues is a classic example. The question of the day, however, is whether Barack Obama's message of hope and inspiration can overcome the powerful conventional political campaign of the Clintons, lingering racial issues, significant support for Hillary among women, and her image of competence. In an American movie, there is no question - Barack Obama would prevail and the last shot would be him making an Inaugural Address harking back to 1960 and John F. Kennedy. How it turns out in real life is far less certain, as the Clintons and both potential Republican nominees are working for a very different ending. Obama, Cllinton, during a CNN debate in Los Angeles (FoNet) President John F. Kennedy is buried at Arlington Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. An eternal flame burns to mark the grave. His assassinated brother lies nearby. Along the ellipse are seven inscriptions from his stirring Inaugural Speech less than three years before his murder. William Montgomery The question of the day is whether Barack Obama's message of hope and inspiration can overcome the powerful conventional political campaign of the Clintons, lingering racial issues, significant support for Hillary among women, and her image of competence.

Echoes of the past, hope for the future

They include: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country…The energy-the faith-the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

Reading those words brings back—powerfully—an era of hope, where everything seemed possible. Young Americans almost welcomed the challenges our country faced, secure in the belief that we would overcome them. Tens of thousands of young people answered the President's call to join the "Peace Corps."

Equal numbers joined the government in order to make a difference. America took a major step forward as blacks and whites together fought segregation throughout the South. The President announced that the United States would have a man on the moon in a decade and no one doubted we could make it happen.

That special feeling remains frozen in time, the President's tenure cut short by his assassination. Who knows how history would have been different were it not for that act? Would the President have followed the same course in Vietnam, which his successor chose? Would we still have gone through the years of turmoil, assassinations (including the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy), riots in many of our largest cities, and massive demonstrations protesting the Vietnam War?

Would the enthusiasm and hope that the new President and his wife generated have dissipated over time, worn down by the daily grind of politics and perhaps even by scandal? Would there have been concrete results to match our lofty expectations? We will never know the answer to those questions. All we know is that his assassination meant the sudden end of an era of hope and (perhaps naïve) optimism and the beginning of years of despair and pessimism.

While many have tried to call up the Kennedy magic since that time 48 years ago, virtually no one has come close to succeeding. Until now. It comes from a very unlikely source: a comparatively young (46 years old) son of a black Kenyan father and a white American mother whose story comes right out of the "American dream."

He first came to national attention when he gave the Keynote Address at the Democratic Nominating Convention four years ago. At the time he was only a state Senator in Illinois. But his speech, hitting all the same refrains he has consistently repeated (the need for unity; overcoming divisions; working together for the common good; and confidence in a better future), electrified the audience.

Barack Obama may not get his party's nomination. He has a formidable opponent in Hillary Clinton, who can match him in campaign funding, has a skilled and experienced campaign staff, and at least until recently, a massive lead in all polls. With the recent withdrawal of John Edwards, the Democratic nomination for President now is a head-to-head competition between the two of them. They actually differ very little on most major issues, so the campaign will be decided far more on voters' assessments of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates themselves.

Obama has recently gotten two major boosts: an overwhelming win in the most recent democratic primary in South Carolina and the endorsements of Senator Edward Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy. Both of them directly anointed Obama as the successor to the late President and specifically cited his ability to bring out hope and inspiration in people that has been absent for far too long.

Caroline Kennedy's endorsement was entitled "A President Like My Father" and ended with these sentences: "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - and not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans." Powerful words spoken by one of the few entitled to speak them.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign have sensed the danger from the Obama candidacy for some time and have tried different strategies to bring him down. She at first stressed her experience (actions not words) until it became apparent that the key word the public was looking for was what Obama was emphasizing: change. She is also frustrated that while she is the first woman in history to be a serious candidate for President of the United States, Obama has skillfully portrayed her as part of the past, not the future.

She has now begun to attack Obama both straightforwardly herself and in more aggressive (and questionable) ways through surrogates. In what in retrospect may be regarded as the major turning point in the Presidential elections of 2008, she unleashed her husband, former President Bill Clinton to play an active, vigorous, and aggressive role in her campaign - attacking Senator Obama relentlessly and with passion. This has had the following repercussions:

-To some extent, the Clinton strategy has worked, in that Senator Obama has shown visible signs of anger and at times has responded in kind to attacks, helping to have him seen as just another politician - but one lacking in experience and seniority.

-Particularly among the Democrats, the former President remains a highly popular, charismatic figure that provides real energy to her campaign.

-At the same time, having a former President as spouse of the candidate is unprecedented and his active role has raised questions about its propriety. It has also revived all the old emotions about him and his Presidency. More than anything else, this will energize the conservative Republican base to vote massively for their candidate. This becomes particularly important if the Republican candidate is John McCain, who appeals to independent and moderate voters. This in turn increasingly worries influential figures in the Democratic Party.

-The manner of the attacks have led one prominent black leader to advice Bill Clinton to "chill" and have done real damage to Hillary's support in the black community. Even if it helps her to beat Obama, it will hurt her considerably in the actual campaign against John McCain.

-Finally, it is hard to square the image of Hillary Clinton as a feminist, independent woman candidate when at the same time she is relying so heavily on her husband for help.

It is quite possible that both the Democratic and Republican nominations will be decided in three days on "Super Tuesday," when about half of the delegates to the respective conventions will be chosen. Both races have been essentially winnowed down to two candidates: John McCain and Mitt Romney on the Republican side and Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Democratic.

It is possible that Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will win a sufficient number of the delegates at stake to declare the race all but over. But it is equally possible that the two are running so close together that the campaign could drag out for a very long time. This actually would be beneficial to the Republican nominee, as the potential for the two Democrats to fatally wound each other in order to prevail is fairly high. The recent flap over racial issues is a classic example.

The question of the day, however, is whether Barack Obama's message of hope and inspiration can overcome the powerful conventional political campaign of the Clintons, lingering racial issues, significant support for Hillary among women, and her image of competence.

In an American movie, there is no question - Barack Obama would prevail and the last shot would be him making an Inaugural Address harking back to 1960 and John F. Kennedy. How it turns out in real life is far less certain, as the Clintons and both potential Republican nominees are working for a very different ending.