Oct 10 2008
The Dark Link between Obama and JFK
Two days in a row I have been reading news reports on the sickening anger among McCain supporters. WaPo had an article yesterday: “Anger Is Crowd’s Overarching Emotion at McCain Rally” and today Politico had a follow up. Reading them gave me shudders: there even have been cries of “kill him” at a recent rally.
The reports reminded me of what happened to JFK. Although he is now canonized as one the greatest Presidents, when he lived he was too hated by a whipped up crowd. So much so that after he was shot, before Lee Oswald was identified, the overwhelming public assumption was that he was killed by a Republic partisan. People flooded local Republican offices with angry mails and phone calls blaming them for the assassination (”Before the Storm“, a biography of Barry Goldwater).
Honestly, I start to fear for Obama’s life. I know it is a very dark thought but I can’t shake it off. American politics always has violence in its DNA. What is even worse is the self-denial in order to sustain the mirage of “a shining city on the hill”, as if the assassinations were just brief exceptions. I remember Benedict Anderson talked about that while building a collective imagination of a nation, there has been constant manipulation of memories of past violence. And this is very true today. By not remembering the circumstance surrounding JFK’s assassination, the nation lives as if it has always been a tolerant and civil polity and that JFK was a tragic hero. In fact, JFK was a martyr and the nation didn’t become what it is today until after he is killed.
God helps us all.
The parallels are disturbing. Watching Obama at all the big rallies over the last months I’d occasionally cringe at the thought of some fringe freak emerging from the crowd. A feel for Barack’s loss of anonymity, but I sleep better at night knowing he’s surrounded by a small army of secret service.
I vividly recall a former neighbor who grew up in Mississippi sharing his experience of when JFK was assassinated. He was in school that day. When and the teacher announced the news that the president was dead the entire class erupted in cheers.
In late October I was in N Carolina for a funeral. Conversation turned to politics. I was stunned to hear several people placing odds on how soon Obama would get knocked off! Not in a hushed voice, not out of concern, but relishing the prospect.
Perhaps it’s to be expected when the VP candidate is whipping up crowds calling Obama un-American, a socialist paling around with terrorists….
For all the flak about Palin’s parochial world view, her tortured syntax, the blown interviews, and the fabulous Tina Fey imitations, nobody stated the obvious: she’s demagog hiding behind lipstick and a Saks 5th Ave skirt.
” When and the teacher announced the news that the president was dead the entire class erupted in cheers.”
My good God!