Kennedy Cowardice

Caroline Kennedy declares that Obama will resurrect Camelot. Ted Kennedy says Obama will resurrect Camelot. The infotainment media dreams that Obama will resurrect Camelot. Crap.

I was an Obama supporter until the weekend before the New Hampshire primary. I even donated money to his campaign, ($25- not a lot for most of you, but it was a significant contribution for me). However, as the sudden adoration among the Talking Heads for Obama exploded that Friday and Saturday, I began to realize that I had been a victim of the bandwagon effect. I had bought into the hype. So, I asked myself: Just What Has Barack Obama done that Qualifies Him to be President? Three years in the US Senate? Two years in the Illinois legislature? A member of the South Chicago political machine?

John Kennedy had fourteen years of experience in Congress before he ran for President. Robert Kennedy had a decade as counsel for various Congressional committees, four years as Attorney General, and three years in the Senate. Obama can make a rousing speech.

It was opportunistic cowardice for Ted Kennedy to endorse Obama at this stage and it is in the tradition of his brother Robert. In 1967, anti-war Democrats were begging Bobby Kennedy to enter the ‘68 race against Lyndon Johnson. He hesitated, refused, demurred. Finally, in frustration at Kennedy’s ambivalence, Eugene McCarthy entered the race as the anti-war candidate. It was not until McCarthy’s showing in the 68 New Hampshire primary that Bobby Kennedy entered the race, enraging those people who had put their political careers on the line to work for Gene McCarthy. Bobby didn’t enter the race until McCarthy had knocked LBJ out of the race. This was, of course, lost in all the Camolot-nostalgia mythologizing after Bobby’s murder, but it is exactly what Teddy did this week. He waited until Obama had a big win in South Carolina before endorsing him. It would have been courageous to do so weeks ago when Hilary was the undisputed leader. That would have meant something. Now, he’s just jumping on the band wagon and not risking anything. Teddy’s a coward.