Monday, December 1, 2014

IT’S A LITTLE SCARY, BUT I WONDER!

By Edwin Cooney

For the third year in a row, the November 22nd, 1963 assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy has been the topic of considerable commentary.  Many of us have read countless reminders of that weekend.  Most of these reminiscences have borne testimony to the social, political and moral strength of the American people and their government throughout and consequent of that terrible tragedy.

On that long ago “black Friday,” one listened to friends and opponents of Jack Kennedy express shock and indignation at his assassination.  Barry Goldwater cut short an interview soon after learning of the shooting in Dallas by refusing to discuss his future as a presidential candidate:  “Oh, let’s not talk about it, Mister,” Goldwater snapped to a Muncie, Indiana reporter. “The president’s been shot.  I don’t care to discuss politics on a day like this – thank you!”

Former President Dwight Eisenhower said: “I share the sense of shock and dismay that the entire nation must feel at the despicable act that took the life of the nation's president. On the personal side, Mrs. Eisenhower and I share the grief that Mrs. Kennedy must now feel. We send to her our prayerful thoughts and sympathetic sentiments in this hour… [I am sure the people] of this nation will join as one man in expressing, not only their dismay, but their indignation at this act and will stand faithfully behind the government...The American nation is a people with great common sense and they are not going to be stampeded or bewildered.”

Certainly there were people who expressed feelings that reflected less than grief that weekend, but it’s unlikely that their number exceeded more than 1% of the two-hundred-thirty-million-plus Americans then alive!

Since that long ago time, we’ve learned a lot of less than admirable things about the person and presidency of John F. Kennedy.  Still, I dare to assert that a substantial majority of those of us still living who remember our shock and grief that pre-Thanksgiving Day weekend in 1963 would even consider apologizing for a single expressed regret or shed tear.

Without a doubt, 21st Century Americans are far more sophisticated and perhaps realistic when it comes to assessing the political motives of our leaders than the generation of Americans who elected and admired John Kennedy.  After all, we live in the Information Age.  However, information may be the parent of knowledge, but when was information ever the parent of either wisdom or morality?

President Obama governs a citizenry that has far less adulation towards him and, consequently, there are many more threats against the president’s life than existed during “Camelot.”  Still, as history clearly demonstrates, only one “threat” has to be carried through to create a national tragedy.  After all that might be said about him, Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America.  Yet, it’s exactly that reality that causes this observer to wonder what a 21st Century presidential assassination trauma might reveal about the health and strength of modern America.

Historically, we’ve taken pride in our capacity and flexibility to transfer responsibility and power from one president to another, especially in the face of a presidential resignation or assassination.  What worries me is what comfort or sense of reassurance would 21st Century opinion makers have to offer those whose political sentiments and personal values don’t mirror their own?  Even more, how many Americans would be open to receiving genuine expressions of sorrow and support given today’s political and social environment?

I was slightly comforted a few months ago when the adequacy of the Secret Service came under serious criticism even by individuals for whom the personal welfare of Barack Obama might matter very little.  Still, it is hard for me to imagine that Fox News or CNBC would be likely to share a sense of loss as did all the media “mouthpieces” in 1963.  Try as I might, I can’t imagine Rush Limbaugh wishing Joe Biden well or Jon Stewart wishing Dick Cheney success even in the face of a national emergency.

The outrages of 9/11 brought about national unity in anguished sorrow for the injured and slain, admiration for the casualties borne by gallant rescuers, and a determination to squash its perpetrators.  Additionally, there was considerable support expressed for our national leadership from President George W. Bush to New York City’s Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.  Beneath the blanket of this grim support, however, there were those who were more than willing to bring all of us up short as to the root causes of our suffering that September morning.  Hence, no longer could we lick our wounds as we once did and reassure ourselves as to our greatness and our purity wrapped in a veil of tranquility.  It may well be that the age of information has turned on a spigot of self analysis that has stripped away the cloak of luxurious calm which was historically available to us in the wake of national crisis.  To put it another way, perhaps we’ve become too sophisticated and agenda-laden for political honeymoons, even in the face of national bereavement.

The question then is: can we really afford not to be genuinely aggrieved should the act of November 22nd, 1963 repeat itself?

If so, we’ve definitely traded freedom’s soul for freedom’s pecuniary demands.  It is equivalent to an exchange made two thousand years ago.  Remember whose welfare was exchanged by Judas for thirty pieces of gold?

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY