You know one thing I'd like to say about RFK and JFK is that despite what is said about them now and what we know about them now, they did something that very few politicians can do, they empowered people and made them believe in themselves. They made people see the possibilities available to them and in this way they did represent the best of what we can be. As men they were flawed. As human beings they were flawed as all human beings are. None of us are perfect and those that would claim to be are insane. They never made claims that they were perfect and there was a humility that was always present when you saw or heard them.

The important thing was the ability to inspire and make people believe in themselves, not just in Robert or John. We live in a different time now and we are jaded and we prefer scandal to reason. Reason takes time, contemplation, thoughtfulness, patience, and a willingness to attempt to understand. We seem to have misplaced these things and in doing so I feel we have misplaced much of what it means to be an American. We once aspired to be the helping hand to lift others out of poverty and oppression. We did not want to do this just out of charity or to feel better about ourselves but to give others the opportunity to feel that they too are human beings. We wanted others to feel that they too had a voice, that they mattered, to see the possibility available to them. We did not think of it as a hand out but a hand up and that if we could just get a person back on their feet they too might see what we could see. We knew that as we felt the blush of success that it was our turn to ask what we could do to help others succeed, to ask what we could do for our country.

The Kennedys showed us what we did mattered and that in helping others we were helping to build and strengthen our nation. This has been poisoned over the decades since they were killed. Where once we hoped to give people their dignity back through a helping hand we now shame them for needing help. We call them bleeders of the system and claim they are stealing our income. Where once the goal was to provide them assistance because it was well within our means to do so we now feel the best way to help them is to cut them off and ensure they understand they are the dregs of society. Turn your back on them and keep more for yourself, you had to earn it, so should they.

We've seen the scandals pile up and the politicians fall. We've seen wasteful wars waged for the profit of the few and not the good of the many. We've heard the screaming of the prophets of doom from high above the city walls and we've pulled back and we want to play it safe. They have driven a clear message deep into our psyche that we should horde and stock up and claim as much as we can for ourselves. It's been repeated so often and in so many ways we can't escape it and it is in part meant to erase what JFK and RFK wanted to instill in us because it is the exact opposite of what they wanted us to feel. It's meant to make us feel small and alone and helpless. It's meant to make us feel we can't change the direction of our nation so the best we can do is stockpile everything we can get our hands on and every man for themselves. It's what many people view as the selfishness, greed, and nastiness that has seen exponential growth in this country since the death of 60s change agents. It vomits from radios and televisions 24/7 and 365 in our information age.

We are more interested now in what we can get our claws into and scandal is juicy, raw, red meat. It's simple and allows us to judge and dismiss and move to the next thing. Motion and result. So now it's about the black love child, the Swift boat, and the crazy negro preacher. Just give us something we can pass judgment on so we can get back to hording and stockpiling and turning our backs.

We've earned it.

Damn, right we have.

We've earned all of it.

Is Obama worthy of RFK comparisons? Well, certainly not yet but he does make us hope he may be. Even in the most jaded observer he raises a question mark, the door may not be open even a crack but you think you glimpse some light seeping through underneath. You can be sure they want to lay a crazy negro preacher along the bottom of the door to block that light. They put that light out some 40 years ago...didn't they?