In Memories of a Painful Past, Hushed Worry About Obama

Front page NYT story today: Some voters are invoking the memories of the killings of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.

My comments:

My husband and I have been worried also and have mentioned to one another "God I hope he doesn't have an assassination attempt on him." I was in high school when MLK and Bobby Kennedy were shot. I was very interested in politics at that time and I was "for" (though I could not vote yet) Bobby Kennedy and followed his campaign as did my parents. I was just nine years old when President Kennedy was shot but I can tell you that it was very traumatic. I was sitting in class in when there was an announcement over the loud speaker "President Kennedy has been shot." I believe we were then all sent home early. Once home, our family activity had just stopped; we were all in the living room and my mom was crying and we were all glued to the TV watching the news story and film footage of the motorcade. To me, it was unbelievable. It was hard to believe that our President could be that vulnerable. I was so young and still innocent. I could feel also the shock and grief of my parents; even the news reporters were completely devastated. Everyone in my world that I saw and knew was devastated.When Bobby Kennedy was running for President, I think many of us felt that here was a chance to have the JFK policies, the JFK standard raised once again. It felt like many people felt deeply that the Kennedys were almost interchangeable in that you could depend on their Democratic values, their Civil Rights values. In addition, Bobby Kennedy was questioning the war in Viet Nam. It was such a hopeful time, rather like now with Barack Obama. It's something I don't want to relive....the heartbreak, the horror, the emotional deflation, depression, grief and it goes without saying I don't want any of that for the Obama family. Yet I am not so naive as I once was. At this point I do not believe that JFK was killed simply by Oswald, acting alone, nor do I believe that Bobby Kennedy was shot ONLY by Sirhan Sirhan. I think he was a puppet to a larger, YES, conspiracy to keep the Kennedy style of government OUT of Washington. That is what I fear for Obama; that there are still those elements in our society who would stop at nothing, don't mind killing, to keep their pockets lined, their ideology in place and devil take the hindmost.

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