Talk Loudly And Carry A Big Nerf Bat

August 13, 2007

By Doug Patton

Barack Obama is attempting to portray himself as the next John F. Kennedy. In fact, the spin machine within the Obama campaign, and supporters like former Kennedy speechwriter-advisor Theodore Sorenson, have been working overtime trying to promote that analogy. And Lloyd Bentsen had the audacity to make fun of Dan Quayle.

John F. Kennedy was a bona fide war hero in the Pacific during World War II. He served six years in the U.S. House of Representatives and eight years in the Senate. He was President of the United States for nearly three years. And he was assassinated. All this by the time he was the age Barack Obama is now.

Kennedy was involved in some of the greatest issues of the 1940s and 1950s. He was a cold warrior and a military hawk who campaigned for president in 1960 on the premise that the former commander of all Allied forces in Europe, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, had not been strong enough in defending America during his presidency.

By contrast, Obama never bothered to serve his country in uniform. He spent his time after college as a "community organizer," whatever that is. He lectured. Oh yes, and he was a law professor, a wonderful contribution to society if ever there was one. Meanwhile, he managed to get in a brief stint as a state senator before being elected to the United States Senate. Of course, he hasn't really done anything in Washington because, since arriving there in 2005, he has spent most of his time running for president.

John Kennedy's life experiences gave him an understanding of a few things which still seem to be a mystery to Barack Obama. For example, Kennedy understood the simple reality that lowering people's taxes increases revenue to the federal government by creating jobs. New jobs create new taxpayers. More money in peoples' pockets gives them more money to spend. More money in circulation creates a strong economy.

Obama continues to spout the one-dimensional mantra of virtually every Democrat since George McGovern that the rich should "pay their fair share" and that the rest of us are entitled to free health care and anything else he can give us out of the public treasury. Of course, he and his elitist ilk will determine who qualifies as "rich."

Obama's insistence on cradle-to-grave nanny-state policies that threaten to stifle the greatest economy on earth would strike the free-market oriented Kennedy as naÃ¯ve were the former president alive today to scrutinize them.

And then there is the stark contrast of these two men in the area of foreign policy. Think about one of John Kennedy's most famous quotes: "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty."

Unlike JFK, Obama apparently is willing to attack or abandon any friend and appease any foe to assure the survival and success of socialism. It is almost as if he is schizophrenic. Desperate to prove that he is not a paper tiger, he is now blustering about attacking Pakistan: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

As GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney put it, referring to Obama's newfound machismo: "He's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week."

Only the most delusional leftist could possibly believe what Barack Obama promises to do for them. His domestic policies are a socialist utopian nightmare. John F. Kennedy told us to ask what we could do for our country. Barack Obama tells us to ask what our country can do for us because we're all entitled to it.

When it comes to foreign policy, Obama would be downright dangerous as commander-in-chief. With absolutely no military experience and a tendency toward appeasement, who knows what he might do? Teddy Roosevelt's motto was "Walk softly and carry a big stick." Barack Obama's motto seems to be "Talk loudly and carry a big nerf bat."

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Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a political speechwriter and public policy advisor. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet web sites, including Human Events Online, TheConservativeVoice.com and GOPUSA.com, where he is a senior writer and state editor. Readers may e-mail him at dougpatton@cox.net.