You made my point except for the references to Clinton and the Bush election. JFK's death became "personal" to all of us who were old enough to remember. There are very few events that have that kind of impact. I gather you were not alive when JFK was killed or you are the greatest political junkie who ever lived. Let's wait another 40 years and see how much you recall about where you were and what you were doing when Clinton uttered his "is" remarks or Bush was elected. The only event that approaches November 22,1963 is 9/11. Take my word for it.
Now wait just one God damn minute. Worshipping immoral drug addict presidents is one thing, but are you suggesting that the Kennedy Assassination had more effect on America than 911??? Are you that brain dead?
As for Clinton's "meaning of the word IS, is," I will never forget it, because it's impact to me, anyway was profound. To witness a duly sworn Constitutional chief executive officer and commander-in-chief of the United States so thoroughly debase his office, the laws he was sworn to uphold, and the American people was deeply shocking to me. Equally as, if not more shocking was the fact that the media and his own party defended him, and much, if not the majority of the public just seemed to shrug.
The assassination of any head of state is shocking to the nation in which it occurs all the more so for us since we are accustomed to stability in our political system. But John F. Kennedy was all that Christopher Hitchens described. It's long, long past time that we took the man down from his entirely undeserved pedestal and see him for what he truly was.
I am sick of the Left defining for me and this nation who is and is not "great." I do not confuse greatness with celebrity, charm, smooth oratory or what some deem to be good looks.
John F. Kennedy was not a great president. He was not a good president. He was not even a mediocre president. He was a lousy president because, like his emulator, Bill Clinton, he put his own hedonistic desires ahead of the best interests of the nation and Constitution he was sworn to protect and uphold.
To that I must add the death of Roosevelt, and someone even older would append Pearl Harbor. But you're absolutely right. These are the seminal events of current American political life.