POL, JFK, RFK & Barack Obama
I'm highly skeptical of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
I sometimes get frustrated at Sen. Barack Obama pandering to the Israel lobby. I get angry when he parrots the nonsense about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons being a threat. Iran isn't close to acquiring nuclear weapons. And even if Iran did acquire nuclear weapons it wouldn't use them against the United States. And Iran is less likely to transfer nuclear weapons to non-state actors than other sources, like Pakistan, North Korea and the former Soviet Union.
However, when I'm feeling optimistic about Obama I see him as a modern John Kennedy. Kennedy had the political savvy to improve his vote totals (over the previous Democratic ticket) with both "White" Southerners and Blacks. He cast votes on key issues in the Senate that appealed to the segregationists. And in 1960 JFK also called Coretta Scott King and pledge to help get Martin Luther King, Jr. freed from jail.
Maybe, I'm too optimistic, but in Barack Obama I see the kind of person who has the personal courage to listen to his own wisdom and common sense and reject the unimaginative conventional wisdom he will get on foreign policy issues. Kennedy had the sense to walk away from the Bay of Pigs. I think Obama will have the sense to decline some of the more hair-brained schemes the Israel lobby will be pushing for, like bombing Iran.
h/t lovingj at Daily Kos for the You Tube.
Labels: Barack Obama, Bay of Pigs, Iran, JFK, MLK, nuclear weapons, RFK
posted by Carl Nyberg at
10:27 PM
2 Comments:
I heard an anecdote from Barry Romo of Vietnam Veterans Against the War about JFK and Cuba.
Kennedy had assembled his military advisers. They were talking about schemes for invading Cuba. Standard macho bullshit.
A Marine general (I think it was the Commandant of the Marine Corps) was asked for input.
He stood up and went to the overhead project and used the pen to put a dot on the map of Cuba.
President Kennedy asked, what's that?
The general responded that's the size of Tarawa (site of the Battle of Tarawa). One thousand GIs died and over 2,000 were wounded.
It sobered the President about the idea of using an amphibious invasion to attack Cuba.
By
Carl Nyberg, at 11:07 PM, March 22, 2007
Like you, I'm optimistic about Obama although sometimes I think he is too middle of the road for me. However, I do think he will be fairer and balance with his approach and we may see a win/win situation for all the competing interests in America.
By
Cynthia, at 5:13 PM, March 29, 2007
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