The campaigns are comparable. They say he’s too young, he’s too inexperienced, his demographic is wrong to get elected. They’ve decided in Washington that he doesn’t have a chance. But the campaign isn’t going on in Washington.The campaign is going on in the grassroots.
–Ted Sorensen, Speech Writer & Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy (source)
The comparisons to JFK and Bobby continue as expected, and they are not entirely wrong for doing so. Since his speech at the DNC in 2004, many have believed he had the charismatic appeal of JFK, MLK, and RFK, and as time has gone by, we see that he also has the strong convictions and plans as they did as well.
I wonder if, however, all of these comparisons will hinder his campaign. I understand it’s a great honour to be mentioned among those great men, but I can’t help but feel it takes away from Obama’s individualism and what makes him unique compared to our current politicians, and not those of the past.
I hope his name will be mentioned with those greats in later years, but he still has a lot to prove – like they did – and I think we need to give him the chance to show he deserves to be in that elite group.