Obama Is No Black JFK
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 12:06 PM
By: James Humes Article Font Size
The election of the Democratic presidential candidate would be a first in U.S. history. His victory would break down a biographical bar that previously had excluded all presidential candidates of that particular background. He faced a candidate who had far more depth in national security issues and foreign policy experience. Undertones of bigotry were raised in the campaign. The Democratic candidate, however, had the charisma and glamour of a Hollywood movie star, along with an eloquence that made audiences swoon. The candidate had even written a best-selling book. The election promised to be close.
Sound familiar? Actually, I was describing the 1960 presidential campaign that pitted Catholic Sen. John Kennedy, the Democrat, against Republican Vice President Richard Nixon. It was razor close. Kennedy won the electoral votes. Few realize that Nixon carried the popular vote, as Al Gore did in 2000, because the votes in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, where Dick Russell was the Democratic presidential candidate on the ballot, were added to Kennedy’s totals.
But Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is no black JFK. The country knew who Kennedy was. He had served in Congress and the U.S. Senate since 1947. His father had been President Roosevelt’s ambassador to Britain at the start of World War II. If Obama loses, it will be attributed to race. Yet the African-American Gen. Colin Powell, in Gallup Polls back in 1999 and 2000, was beating all other possible candidates, including Gore in 1999, by percentages of more than 10 percent to 15 percent.
Aside from some hard-shelled Protestants, there was far more of a comfort level with Kennedy in 1960 than with Obama this year. Kennedy scored heavily with the working class, winning more of their ballots than had voted for Republican Gen. Dwight Eisenhower against Democratic Gov. Adlai Stevenson in the previous two presidential elections. Read More
