THE TORCH HAS BEEN PASSED TO … OBAMA?

"There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party, and John Kennedy replied, 'The world is changing. The old ways will not do... It is time for a new generation of leadership … So it is with Barack Obama," That was part of the Late Senator Ted Kennedy's 2008 American University endorsement of then Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Before this almost Biblical anointment and certainly after, the media has repeatedly claimed Barack Obama is the heir to the John Kennedy Legacy. Liberal media elites with nostalgia for Camelot have even enjoy comparing Michelle Obama to former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The New York tabloids dubbed her “Jackie O” and now the media affectionately call our First Lady, “Michelle O”.

Behind this mainstream media euphoria is a real point about the direction of the Democratic Party. In 1960, America elected an Anti-Communist, Tax Cutting, Defense Hawk as president. No, Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980. We started the New Frontier with John Kennedy. President Kennedy and President Obama share many of the same challenges, but their responses to those challenges is vastly different. Facing an under-performing economy, Barack Obama proposed raising taxes and massive increases in deficit government spending. John Kennedy picked a different course. On January 14, 1963, President Kennedy proposed $ 11.1 Billion in primarily income tax cuts to boost the economy. His tax reductions were similar to the later tax reductions of Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush. Barack Obama's Robin Hood rhetoric about soaking the rich doesn't connect to John Kennedy's pro-growth economic agenda.

During his inaugural address in 1961, America's new young President warned of the dangerous of appeasement, “We dare not tempt them (our adversaries) with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed.” Those comments are prologue to Ronald Reagan's “Peace through Strength” philosophy. Reagan and John Kennedy understood the treat posed by Soviet Communism, it's clear that Barack Obama doesn't understand the treat posed by Islamic Terrorism. It's incredibly difficult to twist those powerful words of President Kennedy into Obama's European apologies for American arrogance. The Modern Ultra Liberal Democratic Party has strayed a long way from, “..pay any price, bear any burden” for liberty, now Democrats are more like 'appease any dictator, surrender to any foe', Defense Hawks like Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman are outcasts in the Democratic Party.

When Ted Kennedy endorsed Obama, he rhetorically passed the torch from his brother John Kennedy to Obama because calling someone 'another Ted Kennedy' is an insult. Teddy's tarnished legacy isn't worth inheriting, that's why he compared Obama to his brother. Obama is really Teddy's heir, they're both big government, high tax, weak on defense, left wing liberals. Without question Ted Kennedy was the heart of the extreme leftist modern Democratic Party. During his long Senate tenure he opposed The Wars in Vietnam and Iraq, he politicized the courts with Ronald Reagan's Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, he voted against Reagan's 1981 tax cuts and George W. Bush's 2001 tax cuts, his political record is disgraceful. His personal life is equally despicable. He combined his brothers' womanizing with stunning, reckless illegal behavior. His death is certainly the latest tragedy in the Kennedy family and I fear Barack Obama's Presidency will be America's tragedy.