I was listening to some more speech excerpts from the Let Every Nation Know CD-Rom yesterday ... he sure had that "Kennedy accent," which might be regional, but it does bring to mind a certain family. [The penultimate clip had a punch to the solar plexus moment -- RFK telling his supporters that King was murdered -- you can hear a sudden cry of despair. RFK was murdered soon afterwards -- the third son killed young, the second murdered.] What stood out was a certain idealism, a certain vision of our nation's place in the world, one that involved some obligations to our nation and the world. For instance, he spoke of a declaration of interpendence, an obligation for the nations of the world to work together for a better world. I want that again. It is possible. As I noted, John Edwards might have it.*
The speech transforming July 4th in particular reminded me of one of my favorite scenes of The Farmer's Daughter, starring Loretta Young. She has to read a speech for class and the manservant of her employer, a senator, has her read something in support of the League of Nations. It in part sadly spoke of those who blocked our role in this predecessor to the U.N., an organization created a few years before the movie came out. How much has things changed since c. 1920? Do we truly know our responsibility, the reality of "interdependence?" Not quite. JFK spoke of Alexander Hamilton's nationalism, his push for people to "think continentally," which JFK changed to "think incontinentally." But, one gets the idea that even Hamilton is too much for many now. New Orleans underlines this.
JFK also had an image as an educated man, a man of ideas and culture. Thus, he had Robert Frost read a poem at his inauguration. [The book noted that Truman liked to play the piano and bothered Bess when Lauren Bacall once draped herself on one as he played. Not quite Marilyn, but Bess had him put the piano away.] His famous push, which he did not consider worthwhile at the very beginning of his term, to get a man on the moon before the end of the decade has been used by Al Franken -- why hasn't Bush spoke of energy independence/alternative energy in this way? But, science and Bush have not been great bedfellows. JFK might have had to deal with the "so-called religious issue," but Bush is the one who lets religious beliefs get into the way of intelligent public policy.
One of my favorite local columnists, who can do light and serious about equally well, targeted a recent news report that scientists have found a way to harvest stem cells without destroying embryos. A follow-up noted that it is not totally clear how well this works, so I think one should take things with a certain grain of salt. Nonetheless, she notes that it is clear to her that it is possible -- she has the sons to prove it. In fact, the method is similar to the one used to test in vitro cells used for test tube babies. The Administration, however, notes that it is morally wrong to do any sort of experiments on human life of this sort. Again, I withhold my judgment for now on this technique, but it is a powerful column.
Just to toss it in, a few blogs have (rightly) honored a pro-choice commercial for an admittedly something of a longshot primary challenge by Jennifer Lawless. I would like if her reference to the "27" anti-abortion votes of her competitor (a pro-life Democrat, the sort voting for The Anti-Michael Schiavo Act and other illiberal measures) included a breakdown of the actual votes. A sort of footnote -- obviously not in the commercial, but why not on her website? A quick web search brought to like some of them (no funding of abortions for military wives and so forth ... outrageous claptrap), but a fuller accounting would help. Back up your words with details. When you are on the right side (and it looks like you are), this tends to work out fairly well. And, don't worry -- many will not look at the footnotes anyway.
Now, I love footnotes. But, I'm not even a resident of Rhode Island. So you are safe.
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* I actually donated to his campaign in '04. In return, one received a campaign CD, which was somewhat cheaply made, but a good idea overall. He also wrote an interesting variant to the campaign book, Four Trials, which was in effect an account of four particular trials Edwards worked on in his role as that much maligned profession, the civil trial lawyer. Edwards used them as a background to telling his story and philosophy about public service. He moved on to serving the public (as he saw his job as) in the private sector (in which he did rather well for himself) to the public sector (one term as U.S. senator). I bought the book; if one donated $35 to his campaign, one received it for free ... not bad.
Edwards' message has a RFK flavor (though in his 50s now, JE also has that boyish look to him), focusing on poverty in America. More broadly, he speaks of the average person, especially the worker who does his/her day's work, but does not receive what might be said a fair return. Thus, health care and related issues add to his message. One would toss in unions, the importance of which is spoken with force here.
He seems a bit weak on foreign policy, though his clear statement that he wrongly voted in support of the war -- no ifs and buts -- is appreciated. And, other than Clark, I don't know what Democratic frontrunner is really strong on that subject. Clinton? Maybe.