Four years ago, John Kerry “reported for duty” at the Democratic National Convention; a not-so-subtle reference to his years of military service in Vietnam, and Bush’s, well… that little Air National Guard thingie that he didn’t even complete. That election sure had the feel of a Vietnam era election – ‘68,or maybe ‘72 – with Kerry cast perfectly as Edmund Muskie, and Bush playing some sort of Nixon/Johnson/Humphrey amalgam (sorry, Hubert – I would’ve given you Kerry if he wasn’t already cast as Muskie.) As a sidenote, Hollywood couldn’t do a better job with that Kerry casting… check out how Jules Witcover described Muskie in “Party of the People:”
But like George Romney before him, Muskie stumbled over the issue of Vietnam. He could not express with clarity where he stood on the war and as a result he offered a muddled message to a Democratic electorate that was increasingly weary of the morass in which the country was mired. He was also deliberative to a fault; it took him forever to make up his mind on other issues as well, and beneath a serene appearance and manner he had a hot temper and a deficiency of patience.
Kerry sure did nail that role.
It was an election of swift boat veterans, and Jane Fonda references. We were treated to 1970s clips of (depending on your perspective, honorable or treasonous) Kerry testifying about the horrors of Vietnam, contemplating how we can ask a man to be “the last man to die for a mistake.” Nation-wide protests were suddenly “back in style,” and man, Don Rumsfeld sure can do a good McNamara impression.
Seems like this year, we’ve reached a bit further back to draw our parallels: we’ve stopped fighting Vietnam, and we’ve started recreating Camelot. Depending on who you ask, Barack Obama is either John or Robert Kennedy; John, the fresh idealist with the young family ready to usher in a new generation (and it wasn’t a very difficult connection to make last year when magazines released photos of Obama sailing on a perfect spring day.) Kennedy, of course, had to overcome prejudice about his religion, working to quell the fear that as President, he would be on direct orders from the Vatican. On the ungrounded prejudice front, Obama obviously has his work cut out for him, aiming to become the first African-American President (plus, I hear he’s some kind of radical Muslim al-Qaeda agent, or maybe the son of Osama bin Laden… one or the other. I can’t swear its true, but, ya know, I read it online).
Others see Obama as Bobby Kennedy, the glimmer of hope in a nation falling apart; the rock star the kiddies want to reach out and touch. As Hillary Clinton learned this week, you might want to stop the Bobby Kennedy references at that point, before you bring up June 5 of ‘68.
In the Obama as RFK analogy, Hillary gets to play the role of Hubert Humphrey (a better fit than the quasi-Bush or Kerry fit above). She is – or at least, has become – the working class hero; the fighter, the familiar face, the established choice, the candidate who can shine on most economic issues, but has the unfortunate record of support for a war that the country (and in particularly the Democratic Party) has long ago soured on. Of course, if Hillary were to take her campaign all the way to the convention, she would inherit the Kennedy legacy – Ted, circa 1980 – but that’s jumping too far ahead in terms of history, so we’ll leave that alone for now.
Back in January, Clinton compared herself to Johnson – “reminding” voters that LBJ was the one who got the legislation passed (i.e. civil rights) after JFK was killed. Still, I’m opting for the Humphrey comparison over the LBJ comparison due to her new-found working class cred and street fighter instincts. On the other side, McCain actually makes for a pretty good Nixon, returning to run for President after an eight-year hiatus, and well-known for a quick temper. I’ll give McCain the benefit of the doubt and let the parallels run out there.
The Kennedy theme has followed Obama for months, seemingly crowned by the Ted/Caroline/Patrick endorsement he received following the South Carolina primary. Few reporters were creative enough to find any non-”torch passed” references to describe the event, and the Kennedy’s themselves – those who support Obama – have done everything short of legal adoption of the man. Yesterday, Obama filled in for Ted in addressing the graduating class of Wesleyan, a class which included Ted’s step-daughter.
But not every parallel for Obama is the shining, smiling, hope-inducing Kennedy legacy. He also has to face the fear that he could meet the same fate as the two brothers. He was granted secret service protection long before any other candidate, and there is certainly an undercurrent of fear about his safety, as demonstrated by the over-the-top response to the unwise Hillary gaffe this week (”We all know Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June of ‘68.”)
As for reaching further and further into the past to set the scene for each Presidential election, hey, I’m all for it. It might be the closest I’ll ever get to time travel. I guess I’m just trying to figure out what this portends for the 2012 election. What – will we have some kind of an apolitical, war-hero, General pledging to keep us out of Korea? Will we see that as too mundane and lacking in nostalgia, and move instead toward some hard-nosed, scrappy, straight-talking Truman wanna-be, touring the country by train making speeches from the platform? And how many elections until we require a President with the ability to hold together the regions of the country?
The trend doesn’t hold quite as true pre-’04. Sure, you had the Clinton impeachment playing a small role in the 2000 election what with that whole “honor and dignity” restoration thing, but Democrats gained Congressional seats that year and Gore won the popular vote (at least) – a far cry from the ‘74 Republicans enduring a thumpin’ in the first post-Watergate contest.
So, here’s my conclusion: every race up to and including the 2000 election is the original material. Every race to come has to be given in the context of one that came before. We could set up menus for candidates and journalists — anyone working to create a frame. After a century or so, when most of the best original material has been repeated, they could start mixing and matching: a Reagan vs. a Jefferson, with a five-week recount to determine the winner. Ya never know… it could happen.
Ed Muskie and John Kerry… what’d I say… Hollywood casting:
