We Need Bobby

We are all blessed with 20/20 hindsight. Sometimes though we know or understand that something that is happening will change everything. We don’t have to wait for it’s conclusion to know that we have the chance for something better. That happened in 1968 and was snuffed out before it’s preferred conclusion.

Have you ever stopped to think about what would have happened if Bobby Kennedy wouldn’t have been shot after winning the California Primary? A good case could be made that he would have beaten Richard Nixon which would mean that “Watergate” would just be the name of a hotel or a salad. Without Nixon, Gerald Ford would have probably finished his career as the Senator from Michigan. Jimmy Carter would have just been a governor from Georgia instead of the great ex-president he is today. The outcome of the Vietnam war would be different, there would not have been an Iranian hostage crisis that helped usher in Reganomics.

Bobby cared about everyone in this country especially those who didn’t have a champion like the poor and minorities. Bobby was trying to show us that we could be better than we were. In 1968 we were embroiled in the Vietnam war. American soldiers were fighting and dying in a war that seemed to have no end. At home there was unrest in many areas of life and it seemed like the fabric of society was not just fraying at the edges but would tear into pieces. Bobby saw these events and believed that we could do better and so he jumped into the race ultimately paying with his life. He believed in hope and reconciliation, “I run for the Presidency because I want the United States of America to stand for hope instead of despair, for the reconciliation of men instead of the growing risk of world war.”

Where are we at today? I believe that there are a lot of comparisons to 1968. We are in a war without end. There is unrest at home, not to the degree that there was in 1968, but it’s still there. Look at how polarized our politics have become. Look at the red states and the blue states. We have issues with crime and punishment. We have civil rights issues. We have an unpopular president and the need for change.

Change may come if we give it a chance and support it. The election of 2008 could be the watershed event that 1968 might have been. To me that change come in the form of a former state senator from Illinois. A man that believes that our best days are ahead of up. A man who doesn’t see red states and blue states, but the UNITED STATES. That person is Barack Obama. I believe that he embodies those beliefs that Bobby Kennedy brought to the table in 1968. He is that instrument for change. He inspires hope and faith that things will get better. Through him everyone will have a seat at the table, not just the wealthy or well connected.

Barack Obama demonstrates how far we’ve come since 1968, but better yet, inspires us for the journey ahead. He has already changed the debate over the future and now needs our support to rally the country. Every now and then you get a chance to fix what is broken and hence make our country better than it was. We need to grasp this chance in both hands so that we can nurture and protect it. Bobby Kennedy didn’t get to finish what he started. We need to make sure that Barack Obama gets that chance.