« Return on Community Investment | Main | Osama Still at Large »
November 20, 2005
Today, RFK would have been 80
Wes F. and David Eisenthal have reminded us that today would have been Bobby Kennedy's 80th birthday. Here's a site dedicated to him. I'll just chime in with my thoughts.
It seems to me that the Democratic Party, and by extension the country, has never regained its moral vision since he died. RFK was a guy who saw the impoverished and downtrodden, showed the world the reality of their situation, and pointed out that our fates are interconnected. His essential compassion is plain from the speeches and footage (which is all I have, being born after he died):
"There are children in the Mississippi Delta," he said, "whose bellies are swollen with hunger ... Many of them cannot go to school because they have no clothes or shoes. These conditions are not confined to rural Mississippi. They exist in dark tenements in Washington, D.C., within sight of the Capitol, in Harlem, in South Side Chicago, in Watts. There are children in each of these areas who have never been to school, never seen a doctor or a dentist. There are children who have never heard conversation in their homes, never read or even seen a book." [link]
Maybe because of his brothers' deaths, he had a searing awareness of the tragic condition of humanity, of the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune".
In the intervening thirty-seven years since he was killed, our vision has been clouded by the Reagan-era reaction against the Great Society vision; and the rise of megabuck politics -- briefly co-opted by Clinton. The phrase "bleeding-heart liberal" came to have such dismissive power only in that reaction, which clove liberals from the source of their moral power: After all, whose heart doesn't bleed? Is there any other kind?
RFK's legacy is his compassion for his fellow human beings. As Democrats and as a people, we have yet to begin living up to that. His words and life still present the starkest possible challenge to us, but also an opportunity to reclaim our vision and power -- if we decide to take them on.
Posted by Charley on the MTA at 09:18 PM in Massachusetts, National | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83456d93f69e200e55078bb078834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Today, RFK would have been 80:
Comments
Couldn't have said it any better myself. Sometimes, having been born 13 years after RFK was assasinated, I wonder what happened to the vision and the moral energy that he brought to public debate.
If anyone is looking for a good book on RFK I'd highly recommend Evan Thomas's 2002 biography.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=dp2vTU0Cny&isbn=0743203291&itm=4
Posted by: Ben | Nov 20, 2005 9:36:40 PM
I have long thought that one of the great tragedies of Clinton's presidency was that, at the beginning, it seemed that he might actually be someone who could carry on RFK's legacy, though in a somewhat different form. Here was a guy who really did understand what it meant to be poor and why it was important that we take on poverty, who believed in social justice, and who had RFK's gift for being able to reach and communicate with an extraordinarily wide range of Americans, from the most powerful to the least. Alas, he made costly mistakes early on - HillaryCare and precipitous action followed by backing down on gays in the military come to mind - and of course we know what happened later. RFK's assassination was, among other things, the loss of a gigantic, once-in-a-generation opportunity to seriously address major societal problems in this country - I believe that if he had survived, he would have been President and would have dramatically changed the country for the better. He could have been a far greater President than his brother. Clinton's presidency was another such lost opportunity - he was (and still is) a truly great politician in some ways, but his own weaknesses and missteps helped the vast right-wing conspiracy prevent him from doing what he knew needed to be done. Sad.
Posted by: David | Nov 20, 2005 10:57:47 PM
Great comments David ... I'd have to agree with Clinton. While hindsight is 20/20 its sad to think of all that he could have accomplished if he had a more clear direction and had kept down his own demons.
The connection with RFK is especially significant, if you read Clinton's "My Life" you can tell the RFK was his political hero. In fact, RFK was the first to make common use of the "hand up, not hand out" rhetoric that Clinton loved.
That being said, I think the junior Senator from Illinois has a great chance to take up RFK's mantle, and from his performance thus far, I'm optimistic about his chances.
Posted by: Ben | Nov 21, 2005 8:52:16 AM
Any of you ever stop to think that the only reason you can continue to romanicize the corrupt and anti-civil rights Kenedy brothers is because they WERE assassinated?
Posted by: Linus | Nov 21, 2005 6:01:05 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
