Ok, so its not the image we all know when it comes to Kennedy portraits and leadership, but I like Kennedy pictures with cigars in them. As we start the beginning of yet another Memorial Day, let us pause and be reminded of a great president and a great man on his birthday May 29, 1917, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Kennedy is a war hero who earned his purple heart and that Kennedy, like Bush, had friends in high places but unlike Chimpy McFlightsuit, Kennedy used his friends to get into the war, not stay out, because he knew this was his generation shared adventure that would define him and his peers. And let us pause on what would've been Kennedy's 90th birthday. Now of course, we cannot know if he would've lived that long, as even if he wasn't assassinated, Kennedy predicted he would die at the same age in which he was killed, this is 46.
He took lots of medicine to keep himself alive day by day, he had Addison Disease, he had a bad back. Those excessive amounts of womanizing can partly be attributed to the fact that he lived on testosterone pills for yet another ailment. He was sick, by the time he was given the last rites in Dallas, he had already been given them four times before, always cheating death.
On Leadership, after the Bay of Pigs Disaster, which was the worst foreign policy disaster until the second Iraq War, what's 90 men to 3000+ lives, he took responsibility for the failure, and said he was sorry. This is what sets leaders apart from wannabes. George W. Bush is willing to fire the first shot but he gives the Iraq shovel to someone else. The Iraq Shovel is based upon a real shovel given to another Texas Cowboy who had a patrician dynasty-at least in Texas-Lyndon Johnson. On it had a note saying,
"I figure this shovel will come in handy to bury all the young American boys uselessly killed in Vietnam last week. I would personally like to see you have to dig the grave for every one of them...I don't think you have the commen sense or judgement to keep us out of this war,I don't think you have the guts to fight it,and I don't think you have the courage to stop it"
Neil C. May 8 1967
You can't make that stuff up.
Other leadership areas that Kennedy is superior to McFlightsuit, is in the area of Civil Rights, after digging in his heels for two years and reacting to crisis like Birmingham,Oxford, Kennedy sent a bill to Congress on Civil Rights and declared Civil Rights "a moral issue", becoming the first president to do so.
Now the Bay of Pigs and Civil Rights are not Kennedy's strong points, but he took action, recognized the futality of the Bay of Pigs and apologized. When asked about any "regrets" he had, Chimpy McFlightsuit said he couldn't think of any. While we're large past the civil rights era, on the current critical issue of the day, Chimpy has failed, unlike Kennedy. When has Chimpy delivered on Global Warming by doing a Kennedy and sending a Global Warming bill to Congress after Hurricaine Katrinalike circumstances? He hasn't, because he doesn't believe in Global Warming, nor does he believe in Congress. This can be seen in appointments like John Bolton and Paul Wolfowitz, which convienately bypassed the Senate. Both Kennedy and Chimpy had to deal with a slow Congress, but Kennedy respected the institution because he was of it. He was a Senator. He was a Congressman. Its a part of our Democracy of Checks and Balances.
Lastly there is of course IQ, FDR didn't write books and nor did George Washington, but they like Kennedy, had brains. Chimpy has neither the brains nor the resume in letters and books that Kennedy, has, and I'm not even comparing Kennedy to Teddy Roosevelt, which is hard to get around with any president vs. Teddy Roosevelt. Kennedy's Inaugural Address keeps a good perch overlooking Washington DC skyline at Arlington National Cemetery. Its words cry out to you, here at the eternal flame is great man, who in this age of soundbite and internet Youtubes, we may never see from again.