dangerous parallels
I’ve been very concerned, as have many, by the forceful, venal and often racist attacks on our president. Recently, I’ve been reading Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency by James Bamford on my iPhone, and it’s interesting to notice how much opposition, even at the level of a potential military coup, there was to Kennedy’s early administration. He was felt to be too soft on Cuba, decided against invading the island after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, and engendered a lot of crazy opposition from the John Birch Society and others. Obama has the birthers and the teabaggers, but that might pale against the forces that were arrayed against JFK from the outset.
The scary thing is that we know what happened to JFK. And Rabin. As much as I wish Obama would do more to make good on his promised changes for the country, he is my president. Our president. The fact that folks on the right are cheering against this country because they so desperately want Obama to fail is mind-boggling to me. The atmosphere is toxic, and can turn deadly very quickly. We have talks about secession-serious discussions even-and some bring guns to town hall meetings and presidential visits.
This is why I feel eerily reminiscent of the early 60’s. I was born in 1961, two weeks before JFK was inaugurated. But I think I’m living it over again as I read more about the fervent rumor mongering and name calling the right did against another president who had a great vision for the US.
Paul Muller, and 
Paul Muller 5:07 pm on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 5:07 pm Permalink
Kennedy “decided against invading the island after the Bay of Pigs fiasco”..
Yes he did. If you ever find yourself defending this decision in a discussion it turns out that the Russians had deployed tactical nuclear battlefield weapons in Cuba and were prepared to use them against an invading force. Had the US proceeded with an amphibious landing in Cuba, our soldiers would have all almost certainly died.
One can only shudder at the consequences of having several thousand US servicemen vaporized by a Russian tactical nuclear blast on the Cuban beaches. What’s scary is that the US – and Kennedy – was completely unaware that the Russians had this capability in Cuba and were prepared to use it.
I wish I knew what it is about Obama that is soooo scary.
dtoub 5:09 pm on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 5:09 pm Permalink
Exactly. We didn’t know there were at last 60 tactical nuclear warheads there. The assumption was that the missiles weren’t armed. We were exquisitely close to global thermonuclear war. The push to invade Cuba, and to gin up support for an invasion, reminds me of what’s going on with Iran.
Paul H. Muller 12:30 pm on Friday, October 9, 2009, 12:30 pm Permalink
FWIW, looks like the Nobel Prize Committee has weighed in on this issue…