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  Home Page » Opinion » Letters To The Editor » Barack Obama Is No John F Kennedy

Barack Obama is no John F. Kennedy

by Edmund Andersson, Durango
When did the Democratic Party morph into a socialistic party? When did it become OK for the president to be anti-American, apologize at home and abroad for our history, and tiptoe around our enemies? What happened between 1960 and 2009? In 1960, a young, charismatic president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, said, "Ask not what the country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Today's "nanny state" policies of Barrack Hussein Obama's party are the antithesis of JFK's national vision of self-sufficiency.

JFK was strong on national defense and decisive on international affairs. He went to Berlin and stood with the West Germans against an oppressive Soviet regime. He demanded - at the risk of nuclear war - that the Russians remove their missiles from Cuba. Our allies trusted him, as did we.

BHO waffles on national defense, is indecisive and naive on international issues. The Iranian uprisings, Russian incursion into Georgia, missile shield curtailment in Poland, failure to gain support against Iran's nuclear follies and shunning the Dalai Lama, show that our "enemies" intimidate him.

JFK, a decorated World War II naval officer and long-term veteran of Congress, loved America and energized the nation to get things done (e.g., the space program, civil and woman's rights, peace corps, culture and the arts).

BHO, a political neophyte without distinction, pushes unpopular programs, misses self-imposed deadlines and alienates average Americans - according to most legitimate polls.

He evokes fear mongering and condescending rhetoric to gain legislative approval betraying his promises for transparency and responsible, bipartisan debate.

JFK was bullish on capitalism. The economy grew an average of 5.5 percent per annum under his administration. Under BHO, free enterprise and risk/reward entrepreneurship have become enemies of the state and unemployment has skyrocketed above 10 percent, contrary to Obama's forecasts tied to approval of the stimulus plan and TARP.

No, BHO is no JFK, nor is the Democratic Party the same party of the 1960s. Unless we force "change" with our ballots in 2010, we'll surely become a defunct, irrelevant nation. I want our country back. How about you?

Edmund Andersson, Durango