With the recent 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s death, news coverage of his life and, mostly his death, have been flickering on television and computer screens constantly in the past two weeks. The media can’t get enough of this President and has covered the mystery of his assassination, the issues he had in common with President Clinton, and the pageantry of his family in the White House. Not surprisingly, almost no one covered the core of his political agenda and the economy in 1963. President Obama and his family have been likened to President Kennedy. I could see a book written with the title: “Obama is the Kennedy of the 21st Century.” Liberals have taken President Kennedy as their top president in the past 50 years just as conservatives have Reagan on a pedestal. Unfortunately for the general public, the real truth is not being broadcast in all of the remembrances. President Obama is very far apart from the politics and the economic philosophy of President Kennedy. In fact, President Kennedy was a pre-Reagan “Reaganite!” From the Today’s Economist: “Contrary to his reputation as a wild-eyed liberal Keynesian who supported budget deficits as economic stimulus, Kennedy was in fact very conservative, fiscally and on national security . . .“ In President Kennedy’s own words, “If we don’t have the tax cut, it substantially, in my opinion, increases the chance of a recession, which will increase unemployment, which will increase the size of our deficit.” “The tax cut argument rests with the desire to stimulate the economy and prevent a recess which will cost us the most – domestically, internationally – on our budget and on our balance of payments.” Neil Cavuto called on liberals to “Listen up, here!” and listen to this video of President Kennedy in a 1963 interview with NBC News’ Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. And this is just on taxes . . .what about President Kennedy’s most famous statement: “It is not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country!” How is this anything like the administration of today?
