Posted on 02/07/2002 10:58:55 AM PST by mickeylee
I finally figured out who President Bush is. He is a classic New Frontiersman.
Just run through the guy's policy blueprint — higher defense spending, tax cuts, a call to national service. Add to that his commitment to free trade and you see the outlines of the John F. Kennedy agenda.
Let's face it. This first Republican President of the 21st century champions the same signature policies that the former Democratic President did in the early 1960s.
Here's Bush in his State of the Union:
"History has called America and our allies to action, and it is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom's fight."
Here is JFK in his inaugural:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty."
Both young Presidents backed up their martial call to duty with a military budget hike. Kennedy's rationale was the "missile gap" between the U.S. and the USSR.
Bush's rationale is the dangers implicit in the doctrine of mutually assured destruction. Where Kennedy wanted more missiles, Bush wants a strategic defense system to neutralize enemy missiles.
Both Presidents are foreign policy activists, uncomfortable in a defensive posture.
Just as JFK wanted to help countries defend themselves against the Soviets and the Chinese, Bush wants to destroy the capability of countries such as Iraq, Iran and North Korea to attack their neighbors.
Both leaders advocate the role of young volunteers in selling the U.S. overseas.
Kennedy created the Peace Corps. Bush has created a Freedom Corps at home and wants to expand the Peace Corps overseas.
"I believe that one thing we must do," Bush said, "is to expand the Peace Corps, revitalize the mission, encourage the Peace Corps to go into the Islamic world ..."
Another area of common purpose is cutting federal taxes. Kennedy pushed a tax cut as a way to lift America out of recession and slow growth rates. He told us that cutting taxes was a more powerful tool than increasing government spending.
Ultimately, both men believe in free trade. Kennedy went to battle with the unions over it in the '60s, while today, Bush is doing the same. "Good jobs," Bush said recently, "depend on expanded trade."
It's an open question whether Bush will match Kennedy's restraint in foreign policy and his conviction on the domestic front. But JFK's greatest achievement was the Cuban missile crisis, when he stood up to both the Soviets to his left and the U.S. military to his right, and Bush has a chance to replicate that feat with Iraq.
To do so he must contain not just Saddam Hussein but also the rightists within his own administration who are pushing for an all-out U.S. attack on Iraq.
If Bush does that, he may well claim a role in history as powerful and heroic as that of the unforgettable Kennedy.
When Klintoon reads this he's gonna be pi$$ed!!!
Did he mean the regrettable and forgettable Kennedy?
Just the opposite. Instead of leading the nation in self-pity, Bush told us to buck up and give two years of our lives to the country with something called the Freedom Corps. He reminded us what a "privilege" it is for leaders like him to fight freedom's fight and how America stands "firm for the non- negotiable demands of human dignity." Again and again Tuesday night, he underlined what an "opportunity" history has granted us.
The way Jack Kennedy once did.
For most of this century much of what the Democrats stood for was conservative. The Southern Democrats of 1960 believed the same things the Southern Republicans believe in 2002.In many cases they are the same people. Strom Thurman was a Democrat back then and is a Republican today. His beliefs have not changed.
Of Course Bush is following Reagan.. who followed JFK. Believe it or not after being there to observe both Reagan and Bush Sr., Dubya has to figure that Reagans decision to follow in the footsteps of FDR and JFK was a smarter move than his Dads to follow in the foot steps of Thomas A. Dewey.
What part of not understanding history makes you feel the most superior?
and those were his good points.
Teddy is very leftist. But JFK and Robert were not. Robert was very close to Mcarthy as in Joe. Robert was the chief council on the Mcarthy committee that went after the communists.
Reagan, O'Neil, Matthews, the Kennedys and even tators are typical Irish politicians. We are all dedicated to over indulgance in wine, woman, and song as long as none of the three belong to us. Actually only Teddy likes to sing. For the rest of us, wine and woman are enough.
Mark Twain had it right 120 years ago. He said the Irish will rule any nation in which they can attain 10 percent of the population. He went on to state as fact that the Irish will never rule Heaven.
As Grandpa used to say, no German Amercian would ever have an articulate son, it if were not for the hard work of Irishmen.
'tator
Bush had better get to work. He's already ten years older than Kennedy ever was, and not one Mafia moll has been to the White House, not one movie star murdered--hardly any accomplishments at all.
That's not the worst part--he damn near killed us all with his about face during the Bay of Pigs fiasco which Krushchev read as a sign of weakness, which brought about the Cuban missle crisis. We came this close to nuclear war.
"W" acted...the "K" reacted.
Still, the nitwit left will never understand the reality of geo-political fact.
They will always find comfort in placing their collective heads where the 'Sun Don't Shine'.
History will tell the tale of truth.
Best FReegards.
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