No, this isn't about Hillary. But her reference to RFK brought back the smell and taste of 1968... If you weren't there, it is hard to express what it was like. Vietnam, the draft, civil rights... it felt like the forces of Good and Evil were locked in an epochal battle for the future of mankind. That might seem absurdly naive today, but for sure that is what it felt like. And when RFK was assassinated, coming as soon as it did after MLK was assassinated, and with the shadow of JFK still hovering in the background, a chill passed through the world. The message was clear: if you were inspirational, good, true, and making a difference -- you would be killed.
From that moment on, I have felt on the losing side.
Yes there was a flicker of victory when Nixon was forced from office, when the power of the press to dig out truth and use it for good was a flash of hope, but it didn't last long. The press has degenerated into a simplistic reality TV entertainment.
Yes, we had Jimmy Carter for a while -- one of the most moral presidents in that office was limited to one term because he probably could not imagine how far the treasonous forces that brought him down would go -- colluding with an enemy with American lives at stake in order to advance your partisan party power against a sitting president? The public bought affable Ronnie, running the country like the host of "Death Valley Days," while Iran/Contra took the first big swipe at the Constitution and greed became a national value. Yeah when the Republican economic model of loot and borrow took a downturn we got Clinton prosperity for a while, but he did it at the expense of becoming a kind of Republican Lite. And to think even after that brief moment, the American public was persuaded that they would rather have a beer with a petulant drunken frat boy deserter than vote for the guy with smarts and integrity... hard not believe that the good guys can't win.
Since RFK, the forces of darkness have gotten more subtle -- why shoot people if you can distract them? buy one get one free! celebrities! sex! amazing new diet! biblical prophesy! missing white woman! Muslim bogeyman under the bed! Under Bush II the American public was so doped up on lies, so debased by fear and cowardice, that the Constitution was ground to pieces and only a few "liberuls" on the internet seemed to have noticed.
And now comes along Obama -- the first person in four decades that could give me that Bobby Kennedy kind of feeling. I know his presidency will be tough -- our country has been sacked and pillaged and he is inheriting it from a war criminal. But I can't think of anyone else I would trust with it.
Hillary remembers 1968. Her "dog whistle" was to all the rest of us who do too -- reminding us that the inspirational guy cannot win. Bringing back the despair of 40 years ago, and telling us that the best you can ever do is get the lesser evil. So why not skip the hope and faith part and go directly to the cynicism and greed part?
Thanks Hillary. But I am going to bet on pushing back the edge of Mordor a little bit this time and trust my luck to the inspirational guy.