The New JFK According to Sorensen

We can't have JFK Jr., but one of Kennedy's closest aids and speechwriters, Ted Sorensen, has a lot of nice things to say about Barak Obama (and some not-so-nice things about the Clintons). From the UK Telegraph:

""Both Kennedy and Obama have fantastically winning smiles and I might say both are very relaxed in front of an audience and on television," he said in an interview. "They don’t shout into a microphone, they talk.

"The principles, the values Obama and Kennedy are enunciating are not five-point plans for new health care programmes, which is more Hillary's style."

The Kennedy legacy and the aura of Camelot have been powerful but largely unspoken themes underpinning the campaign of Mr Obama, another charismatic Harvard alumnus heralding a new era in politics. "

And on to the Hillary-not-quite-bashing:

"When asked about her similarities to Bill Clinton, Mr Sorensen said that her election would be "a continuation of the Clinton-Bush 20 years" and business as usual in Washington.

“She has the same tendency to triangulate, as he called it, she has the same ability to equivocate, to vacillate, to imitate what the Republicans are doing and saying.”...

...The Clintons, he said, were Washington insiders who wanted to maintain the status quo and who had not brought honour to the White House.

“I’m not accusing Clinton of being lawless. He was impeached for trivial reasons.

"But I don’t think that it was the noblest time for the White House when the Lincoln bedroom was rented out to donors and pardons were being issued to some truly dreadful people.”...

...He argued that the former First Lady would be defeated in a presidential fight with a Republican candidate like Rudy Giuliani. "She's got everything going for her but a lot of people just don't like her.

"I'm tired of losing. We've had these candidates who give those five-point programmes, who sound like they are lecturing at MIT or trying to convince the New York Times board of editors.

"That doesn't reach the hearts of the voters. Mr Kennedy reached the hearts of voters. And so does Obama."

JFK, Jr. Thought

Been thinking about the '08 Presidential campaign and here's what I wrote to a friend who asked me about it recently:

"Yeah, I really like Obama, too. He's the kind of guy you can get excited about, and face it, the Hillary machine must be stopped. You know, if JFK Jr's plane had not gone down, he'd have Hillary's Senate seat, and he could be the one we were all excited about (like Obama) and have the political organization/money machine (like Hillary). It's a shame really, 'cause I always kinda thought he would make a great president someday, and we desperately need a great one.

Could Obama be great? Yeah, he could, but we could have had JFK, Jr. Kind of a random thought, but there you go.

Can we get excited about Edwards? I dunno anymore. He's like McCain....both are trying to make their party bases happy by somewhat selling themselves out. Not that there's anything unusual about that, just ask Romney. Edwards also has a hint of used goods from the Kerry debacle... Edwards is not such a fresh face anymore, and he doesn't have much more experience now than when he ran last time. Obama is fresher and his chalkboard empty....people are throwing in with him without knowing where he stands on many things, and that's a great benefit to him. Speaking ability goes a long way, just ask Reagan, and Obama is amazing....Edwards may be a bit too much (gulp)... Jimmy Carter. I'm not really thinking about it much though! ;-P Still got an Edwards tag on my blog...for now..."

Not sure if this has been discussed, but check out what happens to "Obama" on my spell checker in Outlook Express:





It's a vast right wing conspiracy, I say. Or is it left wing? Rush Limbaugh probably has something to do with this!