Which Democratic Candidate do you see as the next JFK?

I was reading an article on JFK (I think it was in the Times or Maclean's magazine). A reflection on his life before and during presidency till the assassination.

What I found most interesting is that JFK won over a lot of the middle-ground and some conservatives with his hawkish positions, not unlike what you see among some of the current crop of Democratic candidates. That made the difference in the nail-biter election against Nixon.

After JFK became president, he did not follow through with many of his hawkish promises and proved to be much more level-headed and prudent, e.g., not taking the Bay of Pigs bait. What he did as a president was considerably more peace and diplomacy oriented than what he presented as a campaigner in 1960.

My question to you: who do you see among the Democratic candidates as being most like Kennedy in terms of seeming hawkish now but has the most potential to be more measured, wise and diplomatic as a future President?

Who is the candidate most similar to JFK?

Probably Obama but I don't see him getting the nomination...


And JFK was fairly hawkish as president... Remember Viet Nam, the Cuban Missile Crisis...But how much of that was events and how much of it was Kennedy and Kennedy did get Russia to remove their nukes from Cuba without blowing up the world...

but from what I read, he was less hawkish than he was portrayed before becoming President. I think it would be significant if say someone like Obama or Clinton who talked "tough" at times actually ended being more diplomatic as a President.

The point is sometimes lost here... Most successful politicians will say what they need to say to get elected, up to the point of looking like a phony...

There is usually a significant difference between how the candidate runs and how the candidate governs. Such is the nature of politics.

but he fully intended to reject the Cold War philosophy once elected. His master plan was to develop foreign policy based on promoting peace among nations.

JFK had the courage of his convictions and was committed to seeing them through, no matter who it angered. I don't yet see that quality in any of our current crop of candidates with the exception of Kucinich.

I think it is fair to say that the 1960 candidate JFK would not be popular on DU, because of his "hawkish positions." Yet it was his understanding of strength that allowed him to at least begin to make progress in his attempts to reduce the threat of global violence. And he had ideas that held the promise of reducing regional conflicts .... and not just southeast Asia, but in Central America as well.

I do not think any candidate really comes close to that -- JFK had some first-hand experience with the hell of war, and had lost a brother, as well. These events, as much as anything, provided him with an understanding of the need to try to reduce the tensions that cause conflict.

There are people who compare Obama to a young Jack Kennedy. I do not think it is a good comparison. I do think, however, that Obama might be the youthful leader capable of leading this country into a new era. But the two that I think best represent a more mature Kennedy-like understanding of global politics would be Biden and Dodd.

While it's been disappointing to see many candidates kowtow to the immature "kick-ass" mentality that infests many American leaders, I'm just hoping that the Democratic candidates will forgo that "tough" front and end up with the wisdom and mature resolve that JFK had. Lieberman and his ilk definitely do not carry the mantle of JFK. Thank goodness that Lieberman is not among the candidates!

Geesch.

he's not there yet though. It appears to me that he's running for V.P. right now, since he's not willing to take HRC on aggressively. That's fine though, I fully believe he'll be President some day.

in spite of his illness...

microscopic tearing apart every word every nuance every message as candidates do now.

It does matter and it is not a valid comparison.

Kennedy was protected by the culture of the MSM at the time......as i would imagine every politician was.