The torch of ‘Camelot’ has been passed to Senator Obama. The Senator’s surging popularity largely sustained by his youth, looks, family, education, soaring rhetoric, an absence of specificity and repetition of the words like ‘change’ and ‘hope’ has ignited that flame. His speeches are very uplifting while woefully short on detail. An almost cult like following has emerged. He just sounds so darn good. Senator Obama fills a Democrat void that had remained empty for 47 years. Platitudes presented with charm and supercharged articulation has sparked latent press sentimentalities in search of the second coming. Thus hard questions and critical analysis will have to await the general election.

Actually this particular resurrection is grounded in the mythology that has for years obscured the true nature of the central character of Camelot. The contemporary perception of J.F.K. among liberal activists is far removed from the reality of the actual lead character of that old story. Hence, we are confronted with the resurrection of a myth rather than the emergence of a contemporary John F. Kennedy.

            Yes, superficially Senator Obama may seem to fit the emotional profile of an old political hero, but as a matter of political values and substance the two men are as different as right from left on today’s political measuring stick.

A good way to get past Obama’s compelling presence in order to discern how his political values diverge from Kennedy’s would be to examine the President’s inaugural speech. Senator Obama could not give that speech. All those adoring Obama supporters, both young people who know little about J.F.K. and baby boomers who romanticize him should read that speech carefully. They will discover that the political values of McCain and Kennedy are much closer than those of Obama and Kennedy. Indeed the change that would occur if Obama gave such a speech today would be the abandonment by Obama of most of his positions.

 Party labels aside that unforgettable speech was grounded in what is called conservative values toady. There would be no inconsistencies or contradictions were Senator McCain to give that speech today. All he would have to do is replace the communist threat with the Islamist threat. The message of lower taxes, personal service, a world wide commitment to liberty, military superiority and the divine source of our rights are solid Republican issues today.

“For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.” “…. the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.” Thus the prevailing take on God as our founders had conceived it prior to a late 1960’s historical rewrite. Kennedy refers to a divine source of human rights and a diminished role for government.