Caroline Kennedy: A President Like My Father

Posted by Kendall Harmon

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • US Presidential Election 2008

10 Comments
Posted January 27, 2008 at 3:06 pm [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Passing By wrote:

Bad news for Hillary, and at least some of the Democratic heavy-hitters are having the sense to avoid the Clintonian taint. 

Well-written, but I’ve always had trouble taking this woman at her word, as she publicly identifies as Roman Catholic but also publicly identifies as pro-choice.  Rather oxymoronic to me…

January 27, 5:47 pm | [comment link]
2. bob carlton wrote:

The energy that young people have for Obama is undeniable.

January 27, 6:17 pm | [comment link]
3. Danny wrote:

The thing I remember most about John Kennedy is:
1.. The Bay of pigs
2.  Marilyn Monroe

mmmmmm…...  Yep reminds me of a Clinton

January 27, 6:48 pm | [comment link]
4. Adam 12 wrote:

Lionizing JFK is dubious but it is nice to see top-tier Democrats backing a black candidate.

January 27, 7:31 pm | [comment link]
5. In Newark wrote:

JFK had his faults, but he was a staunch anti-Communist who believed in supply-side tax cuts.  That doesn’t sound much like Obama—or any present day Democrat—to me.

January 27, 7:32 pm | [comment link]
6. TACit wrote:

Her name is actually Caroline.

Fixed. Thank you.

January 27, 8:20 pm | [comment link]
7. KAR wrote:

I think Obama and McCain have the ability to gain the support of the middle, either one would act as a unifier in that uncommitted Republicans could probably like Obama and uncommitted Democrats could like McCain. Party faithful will howl, but that’s kind of their job. So in that sense Caroline Kennedy is correct, after the 1960 election with only slightly less drama than 2000, JFK was able to unify his opposition well and I think there is one in each party who could do that (Clinton would quickly polarize the nation).

January 27, 10:20 pm | [comment link]
8. Jim the Puritan wrote:

I think it’s become evident in the last couple of weeks that Hillary is just a front for her husband getting back into the presidency.  He’s pretty much taken over her campaign (to her detriment, in my opinion) with his rhetoric and false statements against the Obama campaign.  Demonstrates that she will be a figurehead president and he will be running the country again from behind the scenes.  Even more people dislike him than dislike his wife, so that’s pretty much the kiss of death to her campaign.

January 28, 12:11 am | [comment link]
9. libraryjim wrote:

The news reported today that the family of Robert Kennedy are supporters of Hillary Clinton.  A family divided, it seems.

January 28, 11:04 am | [comment link]
10. John Wilkins wrote:

It was, however, LBJ who had the muscle to get things done. 

Kennedy escalated Vietnam, alas.  He was not a “supply-sider.”  He did cut taxes, although he was still a Keynesian.

January 29, 11:34 am | [comment link]
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