JFK: Democrats' Role Model?

by Larry Elder - September 4th, 2008 - Townhall.com

Barack Obama likes to point to the 1961 Kennedy-Khrushchev summit to support his desire for meetings "without preconditions" with enemies such as Iran and North Korea.

But Kennedy's secretary of State, Dean Rusk, urged against such a non-conditions-based summit. And later, Kennedy called the summit meeting the "roughest thing in my life. (Khrushchev) just beat the hell out of me. I've got a terrible problem if he thinks I'm inexperienced and have no guts." Indeed, Khrushchev thought Kennedy a weak amateur. Following the summit, Khrushchev built the Berlin Wall and placed missiles in Cuba, an action that led the world to the brink of nuclear conflict.

If Barack Obama winds up winning this Presidential Campaign, he will create damage to our nation that will take a generation to recover from. He is so unstable that a little criticism from Governor Sarah Palin got him "riled" (as noted in the earlier posting below). Can someone so insecure be relied on to negotiate with the toughness that Ronald Reagan showed at Reykjavik? The moral strength Reagan showed is the kind of man (or woman) that we need, not a wimp.

Kennedy was more intelligent on tax and economic policy than any Democrat of today seems to be. A good question that deserves to be asked . . . would Kennedy be a Democrat today or would he, like Reagan, feel the Democrat Party has deserted him?

I don't think anyone can honestly say that JFK is a role model for Democrats today. He is a symbol but what he actually stood for has been lost in time.