by Naftali Bendavid
In the ongoing flow of rhetoric on the campaign trail, Sen. Barack Obama has come up with a new phrase: He’s taken to talking about a “security gap” in America.
In yesterday’s speech on Iraq, Obama defined the security gap as the difference between the claims of hawkish officials and the actual insecurity caused by their actions. “There is a security gap in this country,” Obama said in North Carolina. “A gap between the rhetoric of those who claim to be tough on national security and the reality of growing insecurity caused by their decisions.”
It’s the latest in a series of ways in which Obama and his campaign, intentionally or not (and it seems mostly to be intentional), have reached back to the legacy of the Kennedys.
It was John Kennedy, after all, who made a lot of headway in 1960 by campaigning across the country warning of a “missile gap”—the difference between the missiles in the arsenal of the Soviet Union and those in the American arsenal. Kennedy promised to close that gap, which supposedly favored the Soviets, if he became president.
For Kennedy, warning of a missile gap served the political purpose of showing him to be a tough cold warrior despite his youth, inexperience and membership in the Democratic Party. Kennedy was only 42 when elected to the White House, and he was running against the super-experienced Richard Nixon, who’d served as a congressman, senator and vice president, and had engaged in the famous “kitchen debate” with Nikita Kruschev.
The only problem was, the missile gap was a fiction. It’s widely accepted that when Kennedy did reach the White House, he was informed that the Soviet advantage with which he’d been lambasting the Republicans was non-existent.
By then, of course, it had served its political purpose.
That’s not to say that Obama’s claims of a security gap are false. And he’s really making a different point—about the allegedly inflated claims of hard-line Republicans and the reality that they have made the country less secure by, for example, focusing on Iraq instead of Afghanistan.
Nonetheless, it’s an interesting historical echo for Obama to choose.
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Comments
Me like it when media distort truth and play with mind. Me want go buy stuff now. Hope Muslim not go to shopping mall and want blow me up or take my democracy freedoms.
Posted by: American zombie | March 20, 2008 12:09 PM
Why doesnt Obama tell us why he lied on MSNBC and Fox news? Why doesnt he tell us how he can justify taking his children to hear a hate monger give sermons every Sunday? Sorry but this issue isnt going to just magically go away because Obama gave a speech.
Posted by: Phil | March 20, 2008 12:21 PM
Obama DOES resemble JFK in one way.
JFK had a sympathetic media cover up for his drug use and his 24-7 philandering. The media openly rooted for his election. Obama enjoys the same fawning news coverage, the best evidence being the above Swamp love-note.
Posted by: Judith Exner | March 20, 2008 12:49 PM
"have reached back to the legacy of the Kennedys."
"That’s not to say that Obama’s claims of a security gap are false. And he’s really making a different point"
So what's you point? That they both used the word "gap"?
wow.
Posted by: p994u | March 20, 2008 1:08 PM
The resemblence is there, all right.
Kennedy made a claim about a "gap", which claim was a lie--a "fiction", in the words of the article. "The Audacity of Hoax" Obama is a fitting heir to the legacy of Kennedy's lies.
Posted by: Judith Exner | March 20, 2008 1:21 PM
Post this where I can view it and I'll comment. Have lots of time, but precious little to waste.
Posted by: Jean Chevreille | March 20, 2008 1:47 PM
It is our patriotic duty to make sure that this person makes it to the presidency. Our country is in desperate need of his kind of leadership.
Posted by: Nathan | March 20, 2008 2:04 PM
Me like it when media distort truth and play with mind. Me want go buy stuff now. Hope Muslim not go to shopping mall and want blow me up or take my democracy freedoms.
Posted by: American zombie | March 20, 2008 12:09 PM
I love it when the fascist little Republicans come out and show their true colors (see above post), and all the while they fail to mention that they themselves voted, twice, for the Prez Chimpy and Buckshot Cheney disaster.
This really puts Obama's smear merchants in a bind -- do they push false rumors that he's a secret Muslim bent on delivering America to Al Qaida, or is he a member of an intolerant and radical black Christian church?
While I know the crazies on the Right have a remarkable power to ignore the laws of reality, science, and logic in pursuit of their wrongheaded ideology, trying to float both these theories at once might be a stretch, even for them.
Posted by: John E | March 20, 2008 2:11 PM
Hey, how did that Nixon fellow turn out, after all?
Posted by: Bud McFarlin | March 20, 2008 2:12 PM
"PROVISIONAL BALLOTS SPEAK"
"NECESITAMOS UN COMPROMISO SERIO CON LAS REFORMAG "OBAMA SAID" "ES HORN DE LIMPIAR ARIZONA, FLORIDA, VIRGINIA, CALIFORNIA, AND OHIO, WASHINGTON DE UNA VEL POR TODAS"
OTHERWISE THE SECURITY GAP WILL BE FILLED WITH!
UNMANNED AIRCRAFTS
BIOMETRIC ENHANCERS
NEW DETENTION CENTERS
BASE CLOSURE TURNED INTO DETENTION CENTERS
ROGUE DETENTION FACILITIES
VIRTUAL FENCES IN A BACKYARD NEAR YOU
REAL ID "IF YOU CAN PROVE YOU WERE BORN AFTER 1964.
"THE OFFICE"
"THE COMMISSION"
"NO CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT"
"CONSOLIDATION OF ALL FOUR BRANCHES OF YOUR GOVERNMENT UNDER "THE SECRETARY"
SEC. OF INTERIOR
SEC. OF TREASURER (ALREADY)
ATTORNEY GENERAL (ALREADY)
SECRETARY OF STATE (ALREADY)
REAL ID MARRYS EEVS, EEVS MARRY'S SOCIAL SECURITY AND AMERICA GETS "MARSHALL LAW IMMIGRATION" 11 MILLION "Z" PEOPLE WITH THE SAME NAME AMERICANS BUT ON A "FELONY" LISTS THAT MUST BE CHALLENGED IN ORDER TO BE "FREE" AND COUNTED!
LETS NOT FORGET ABOUT THOSE "SHADOW WOLVES"
SO AMERICA WE NEED A SERIOUS COMMITTMENT TO REFORM THIS TIME TO CLEAN UP WASHINGTON ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Posted by: Roger Morris | March 20, 2008 2:16 PM
President Kennedy told it as he, and the rest of the country for that matter, saw it. Senator Obama is doing the same thing. The difference, it seems, is that JFK later turned out to be wrong. I doubt that will be the case with Iraq. You can't expect to invade a country, based on convoluted logic and false pretenses, and expect to come out smelling like a rose.
Posted by: Jean Chevreille | March 20, 2008 2:53 PM
If it were Hillary it wouldn't be an "echo". It would be Plagiarism.
Posted by: Maezeppa | March 20, 2008 3:06 PM
How is it a stretch?
For nearly eight years:
We elected Bush because We won't hand over America to terrorist sympathizers.
Muslim radicals.
Radical black Christian church.
Terrorist sympathizers.
The chickens came home to roost-America.
Do I have to connect the dots for you? Cuz you might be loosing your "know thy enemy" touch.
Really weak theory, John E. Even for you.
Posted by: hmmm | March 20, 2008 5:01 PM
John E said:
"This really puts Obama's smear merchants in a bind -- do they push false rumors that he's a secret Muslim bent on delivering America to Al Qaida, or is he a member of an intolerant and radical black Christian church?"
Yep. They're also in another bind. Obama's a racist because of his minister's comments. But then, a racist must hate some race. For Obama to be a racist, he must hate one half of his family or the other. Also, as his mother was white and his father was black, if Obama is a racist he must also hate himself.
It's right along with the "be my VP" and "you're not qualified to be president".
Posted by: JTS | March 20, 2008 5:10 PM
A minor point but Democrats in JFK's time weren't the Nancyboys who blamed America first last and always, that they are today. The point has been made that Nixon was the more liberal of the two.
JFK lowered the top tax rate from over 90% to the mid 60s.
He explained the increased tax revenue as a paradox to the Detroit Economic Club. (in the city with the highest per capita income)
Posted by: whatnow | March 20, 2008 5:47 PM