Urbane, a gifted speaker, and a man who seems to light up the room with his classy wife and great looking children, Barack Obama could be the black and white version of John F. Kennedy. Unlike Kennedy, Obama's electoral mandate is overwhelming. (Kennedy's critics claim that his father, Joseph, bought the election, and Cook County, Illinois, voter fraud may have also turned the election to JFK.) In any case, both men, Obama and JFK, engender an almost cult-like following.
In the end, it could be said that JFK's legacy was saved by his assassination and elevation to mythic martyrdom. His 1,000 days were characterized by an adoring press, an international love affair with the gorgeous Jackie and a public who could not get enough ofJFK's charming ways. As a chief of state, however, JFK fared none too well. He was more or less a passive observer to Rev. King's march on Washington, and his domestic program would be the pride of any modern Republican. In foreign affairs, he nearly started a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
What has JFK's legacy to do with Barack Obama? The similarities between the two are obvious. Both embody a somewhat idealistic (some would say naive) view of American politics. JFK rode into office after eight years of a Republican administration that seemed to have burned itself out.Obama , like JFK, was ran a campaign based on the promise of change. More importantly, however, was their appeal to the emotional notion that a new generation of leaders could actually change a moribund and money-driven political system in a vast and diverse republic, the United States of America.
It does not now (nor did it back in Kennedy's time) seem to matter that our country is somewhat impervious to change. My generation began to mature with the hope and promise of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was more like a prince than a politician. His wife and family were the closest we would ever get to an actual royal family. His inauguration speech was the most thrilling and hopeful that Americans had heard since FDR. JFK began his presidency seemingly above the bickering and political deals, until his political fence-mending visit to Dallas that day in 1963 ended my generation's swoon in Camelot and gave us LBJ, Vietnam and the voter's rejection of Democrats that resulted in Richard M. Nixon.
So how will Obama's astonishing honeymoon with the press, the American electorate, and public opinion overseas affect everyone's view of the American presidency? Will it be business as usual as competing interests realign to the new political reality of the Democrats' ownership of the federal government? How will America's first multi-racial President come to grips with being almost a cult leader faced with challenges and problems that defy description and solution?
Returning to the JFK legacy, Obama has the advantage of a charismatic style that may help him transcend politics and be the leader his fans and supporters believe he is. New presidents always get a honeymoon period where the country lines up behind them to give them a fair chance to settle in and show their stuff.Obama, given his popularity with the mainstream press, may be able to extend the honeymoon, but there is always the unexpected (JFK's Cuban Missile Crisis, George Bush's 9/11 attacks, for example). The danger is that the public may suffer "buyer's remorse" if some crisis arises that Obama is not equal to.
Unexpected crises notwithstanding, Obama already has his hands full with the failing US economy and the shameful spectacle of our Big Three automakers CEO's begging for taxpayers' billions to bail out their companies. During Obama's campaign he was able to (unfairly) deflect most of the blame to Republican mismanagement and lack of oversight, just as US lawmakers are now successfully blaming big business leaders for our failing auto industry. That will not work indefinitely.
Since any person new to a job has somewhat of a grace period where the predecessor can be blamed for most problems, Obama's honeymoon may be in exact proportion to that grace period. When Americans finally realize that Washington, DC, meddling, bowing to special interests and downright hypocrisy on the part of people like Representative Barney Frank were part of the causes of this whole mess, Obama's honeymoon may end with a midterm election revival of the Republicans.
On the international scene, Obama, like Kennedy, will be the new guy on the block. When Kennedy tried to negotiate with the Soviet Union's Nikita Khrushchev, Kennedy proved to be way out of his depth. It may have been Khrushchev's disdain for Kennedy that contributed to the Cuban Missile Crisis and the preservation of Communist Cuba far past its expected life span. (The deal was for the Soviets to remove the missiles in return for US promises not to invade Cuba. Cuba has been a pain in the neck ever since JFK.)
How Obama will fare in an arena where he has absolutely no portfolio remains to be seen. Kennedy overcame a similar problem simply by taking his show on the road. His famous speech in Berlin where he said "I am a Berliner," had the resonance of aObama-like revival. Obama's challenges are greater, because our country's enemies have a cult following of their own and are motivated by religious fanaticism.
So the real question is, will the stark world of the reality of governing an almost impossible to govern republic rain on Obama's cult of popularity? It probably, and most certainly, will. No president is impervious to bad luck and slipping popularity in the world's most difficult job. If Ronald Reagan can take a fall over arms for hostages, another successful terror attack on our own shores could hurt the Obama presidency grievously. If we are fortunate enough to hold the bad guys at bay, an ailing economy exacerbated by Obama's promised high taxation of those who don't pay the taxes but pass them on to everyone else could do him even more harm.
In any case, it will be interesting to watch the Democrats cope with the upcoming challenges, while the Republicans settle back into their preferred role of the minority opposition. It was the Republican performance while in the catbird seat that brought this rock star candidate to power in the first place.