The Obama people are like the Kennedy people in that they are practicing practical pragmatism...

[WCGreen]

to a point.

The difference I see is that Kennedy was not driven by an all embracing ideology whereas Obama has a core that was shaped by his much derided days as a community organizer and the fact he was a child of the sixties.

This is a significant difference since the folks around JFK, the inner circle, were all from the privilege class. Obama was far removed from that experience. I think Obama combines that Kennedyesque aura but it is steeped in the complex experience of his youth.

He is one of us, but he isn't. He has a vision that sets him apart from the "rabble", but the character to put that vision in a perspective that is made for these changing times.

That is also why he is different from Clinton. Clinton, when push came to shove, did not have what it takes to stand up to temptations.

A while ago, the idea of a paradigm shift was big on the how to succeed in business lecture tours. But no one could actually make themselves shift their whole perspective on the world in ten easy steps.

Obama, being who he is and where he came from is the agent of that much ballyhooed paradigm shift.

He is neither a rigid liberal or knee-jerk conservative. He is an American who is right for the job, right for the time, right for us.

He is us.

I didn't feel that way in the early days of this seemingly endless campaign, but now I see Obama as a transcending figure, a man who is poised to set a new agenda for the 21st century.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This is a complex topic and you have nailed it...

It works because Obama didn't shift.

He is the paradigm shift.

K&R, dammit

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

2. A number of JFKs inner circle were hard-bitten Irish

pols who were not necessarily upper class and who came up through the tough ranks of Boston Dem politics. All of JFK's crew were tough as nails infighters, though.