Passing Torches
When Senator Ted Kennedy, along with his son, Patrick (US Congressman from Rhode Island), and his niece, Caroline, daughter of John F. Kennedy, endorsed Barak Obama on Monday he said:
"There was another time, when another young candidate was running for President and challenging America to cross a New Frontier. He faced public criticism from the preceding Democratic President, who was widely respected in the party. Harry Truman said we needed "someone with greater experience"—and added: "May I urge you to be patient." And John Kennedy replied: "The world is changing. The old ways will not do…It is time for a new generation of leadership."
"So it is with Barack Obama. He has lit a spark of hope amid the fierce urgency of now."
He was comparing Obama to JFK and passing the torch to this new generation; a very symbolic moment.
However, it would be better to compare this time in history to that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who inherited a damaged and suffering country from Republican Herbert Hoover.
Because JFK's predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, did not leave a disastrous pre-emptive invasion and occupation of Iraq; a health care crisis; a mortgage and lending institution crisis; an economic debacle including a recession; politicized government departments and agencies; a torture policy; the awful consequences of Katrina incompetence; tax cuts for the wealthy 2%; almost privatized federal government; private mercenary armies not accountable under any law; a strained and tired US military fighting in two places simultaneously; or many of the other terrible Bush created problems that await a new president.
While idealistic cadences are a source of inspiration and activism, reality should not be brushed aside. Accountability for damaging this country is required and must be demanded.
Let's not repeat one of the grave mistakes of Bill Clinton and his presidency. As Robert Parry writes in Consortium News,
"In their haste to avoid confrontations with this President Bush, the Democrats are reprising their response to the wrongdoing of the last President Bush.
"Indeed, protecting George H.W. Bush’s legacy grew into almost an obsession for President Bill Clinton, who not only went along with sweeping under the rug several national security scandals – Iran-Contra, Iraq-gate, October Surprise – in 1993, but whose subordinates aggressively joined in covering up Bush’s wrongdoing in subsequent years.
"The refrain that I heard from senior Clinton officials in the 1990s was that these historical questions weren’t on “our radar scopes” or that the administration was “looking to the future, not the past,” or that the President needed to 'work with these guys.'
"Clinton’s strategy ended up letting Republicans write a false historical narrative for the Reagan-Bush years and opened the White House back door for a restoration of the Bush Dynasty...."
Barack Obama should understand that holding Bush, his administration, and his Bushites in Congress accountable for their eight years of defying the Constitution and rule of law, and the abuse they have inflicted on the American people, this nation, and other countries like Iraq, needs to be the first step in rebuilding a damaged United States.
While we should look to the future, we must not forget the past. George Santayana's warning, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" has never been more true.
"There was another time, when another young candidate was running for President and challenging America to cross a New Frontier. He faced public criticism from the preceding Democratic President, who was widely respected in the party. Harry Truman said we needed "someone with greater experience"—and added: "May I urge you to be patient." And John Kennedy replied: "The world is changing. The old ways will not do…It is time for a new generation of leadership."
"So it is with Barack Obama. He has lit a spark of hope amid the fierce urgency of now."
He was comparing Obama to JFK and passing the torch to this new generation; a very symbolic moment.
However, it would be better to compare this time in history to that of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who inherited a damaged and suffering country from Republican Herbert Hoover.
Because JFK's predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, did not leave a disastrous pre-emptive invasion and occupation of Iraq; a health care crisis; a mortgage and lending institution crisis; an economic debacle including a recession; politicized government departments and agencies; a torture policy; the awful consequences of Katrina incompetence; tax cuts for the wealthy 2%; almost privatized federal government; private mercenary armies not accountable under any law; a strained and tired US military fighting in two places simultaneously; or many of the other terrible Bush created problems that await a new president.
While idealistic cadences are a source of inspiration and activism, reality should not be brushed aside. Accountability for damaging this country is required and must be demanded.
Let's not repeat one of the grave mistakes of Bill Clinton and his presidency. As Robert Parry writes in Consortium News,
"In their haste to avoid confrontations with this President Bush, the Democrats are reprising their response to the wrongdoing of the last President Bush.
"Indeed, protecting George H.W. Bush’s legacy grew into almost an obsession for President Bill Clinton, who not only went along with sweeping under the rug several national security scandals – Iran-Contra, Iraq-gate, October Surprise – in 1993, but whose subordinates aggressively joined in covering up Bush’s wrongdoing in subsequent years.
"The refrain that I heard from senior Clinton officials in the 1990s was that these historical questions weren’t on “our radar scopes” or that the administration was “looking to the future, not the past,” or that the President needed to 'work with these guys.'
"Clinton’s strategy ended up letting Republicans write a false historical narrative for the Reagan-Bush years and opened the White House back door for a restoration of the Bush Dynasty...."
Barack Obama should understand that holding Bush, his administration, and his Bushites in Congress accountable for their eight years of defying the Constitution and rule of law, and the abuse they have inflicted on the American people, this nation, and other countries like Iraq, needs to be the first step in rebuilding a damaged United States.
While we should look to the future, we must not forget the past. George Santayana's warning, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" has never been more true.
Posted by Kaz at 1/30/2008 10:47 AM 
Categories: Clinton, Bush, Politics, Presidential Race, Events and Premieres
Categories: Clinton, Bush, Politics, Presidential Race, Events and Premieres
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