Alvin S. Felzenberg: Senator, You’re No Jack Kennedy
[Alvin S. Felzenberg is author of The Leaders We Deserved and a Few We Didn’t: Rethinking the Presidential Rating Game.]
It was not Kennedy and it certainly was not Reagan. Yet, in his speech in Berlin before a friendly but curious audience, Barack Obama achieved his principal purpose. The Democratic party’s presumptive nominee appeared informed, concerned, and presidential. Like two of his countrymen who preceded him to Germany (the presumptive nominee was not presumptuous enough to refer to them as “predecessors”), Obama talked about new partnerships, shared sacrifice, and common dangers.
Also like Kennedy and Reagan, Obama evoked humankind’s universal yearning for freedom. Obama acknowledged American failings. Unlike Bill Clinton, however, he did not apologize for them. Instead, he cast himself as part of a centuries’ long struggle to build a more perfect union. His refusal to pander to anti-American elements abroad may bring him increased respect should he become president...
Read entire article at National Review
It was not Kennedy and it certainly was not Reagan. Yet, in his speech in Berlin before a friendly but curious audience, Barack Obama achieved his principal purpose. The Democratic party’s presumptive nominee appeared informed, concerned, and presidential. Like two of his countrymen who preceded him to Germany (the presumptive nominee was not presumptuous enough to refer to them as “predecessors”), Obama talked about new partnerships, shared sacrifice, and common dangers.
Also like Kennedy and Reagan, Obama evoked humankind’s universal yearning for freedom. Obama acknowledged American failings. Unlike Bill Clinton, however, he did not apologize for them. Instead, he cast himself as part of a centuries’ long struggle to build a more perfect union. His refusal to pander to anti-American elements abroad may bring him increased respect should he become president...