Does Barack Obama have a JFK problem?
When Obama swept into the Oval Office back in 2008, just about everyone compared him to that other senator-turned-president with a cadre of young followers.
Almost three years into Obama's presidency, one doesn’t hear many of those comparisons anymore. Most questions revolve around whether he can defeat whichever uninspiring GOP candidate gets the nomination.
With another election cycle in the hopper, who better to discuss both Commanders-in-Chief than Chris Matthews, a former speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner and current host of MSNBC’s “Hardball With Chris Matthews.”
Matthews already wrote one book on Kennedy’s relationship with Richard Nixon, and on Tuesday he will release another book on the 35th President, a biography titled “Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero.”
TheWrap talked with Matthews about the Kennedy myth, the Obama's Kennedy problem and the 2012 presidential race.
In his last campaign, there were endless comparisons between Obama and Kennedy. Are those still apt?
Obama’s personal touch is gone. You’ll see. I personally think that’s his deficit. His lack of personal rapport and connection and bond with other politicians and the people. He doesn’t have what Jack Kennedy had, what Clinton had -- relationships with people in the country.
He doesn’t have a relationship based on, "We’re all in this together." It’s: "Look how smart I am, look how good I am at this." Kennedy invited people in to help him share the Peace Corps and the special forces, to be part of winning the Cold War without a war. A Kennedy person was someone called to duty. You don’t feel that today.
Speaking of personal touches, my favorite part of your book is the back story of how Kennedy won the Senate seat in 1952 by going to every corner of Massachusetts and developing all of those connections with both local politicians and everyday citizens. Is there space in politics for that now? Or is it all big fundraisers and social media?
There was a big piece by Scott Wilson in the Washington Post about how Obama doesn’t like to hang out with politicians, how senators haven't gotten a call from him since the last election. That’s terrible. Those politicians may not be people you or I would hang out with, but who chooses a career if you don’t want to pursue it?
A lot of people have tried to change politics and make it virtual. He has a lot of young people out there social networking. I don’t think that is the same as having allies. People emailing one another is not the same as allies.
Is there a remedy to all this for Obama?
I just wrote a piece for Time where I give five pieces of advice for Obama from Jack and I end it by saying the chief reason he better start being more Kennedy-esque is he promised to be.
