"If you had told me we would see a man walk on the moon" when I was young

[FreakinDJ]

I would have said you were nuts or a liar

We all head that from our parents in the late 60s and 70s - but yet there on nationally, globally, televised live broadcast America and the rest of the world watched in aw as man took his first steps on the moon. All brought about by the visionary words and decisive legislative actions of 1 man - John F. Kennedy





What has America lost -

Now in a new millennium faced with runaway medical cost, staggering income inequality and an economic system that prevents the opportunities taken for granted by the same disbelievers of a man walking on the moon we call those goals - unrealistic. What exactly has America lost ?

Why are they telling Americans to "Dream Smaller", "Seek Less from your political leaders", "expect less opportunity in America", or even expect the crushing debt from medical care not to go away anytime soon in your life time. Why is it we can't expect "American Exceptionalism" to over come common problems shared by all in this society?

From a Nation that has repeatedly changed the world as we know it. The Nation that banded together to defeat Fascism in Europe, put a Man on the Moom, changed life as we know it through the development of the transistor, the first IC chip, and the first personal computer

Why do we expect any thing less

[hobbit709]

1. I was 12 when JFK made that speech.

[FreakinDJ]

2. I was few years younger and I remember

my parents being wide eyed in disbelief

But yet there we were a few years later watching the whole thing unfold on TV

[starroute]

28. I never doubted it -- and neither did my parents

When I was about four or five and obsessed with astronomy, I asked my mother, "Mommy, how long will be before we land on the Moon?" And she said, "About thirty years," because that was what she'd read somewhere. And I said, "Oh, good," and went back to playing.

That would have been around 1951 or 1952. The only part that surprised me was how much faster it went than I'd expected.

[ucrdem]

3. Okay I'll skip the inevitable Lloyd Bentsen line

and say it's great that Bernie inspires but it's a shame he doesn't have the foreign policy chops that JFK aquired over the course of his life and senate tenure. Kennedy literally wrote the book on the strategy of peace as he called it and while Bernie has made occasional murmurs in that direction he has nothing close to the programmatic dedication to world peace that Kennedy championed and (contra conventional RW wisdom) gave his life to.

[FreakinDJ]

4. Just overlook Hillary's habitual lying

[ucrdem]

17. Hillary has come a long way since that 2008 picture was taken

or at least her coiffure has. But seriously ... no, Hill is no JFK either, but I do feel she comes much closer in the experience department than Sanders, and like it or not experience matters. Even JFK was played for a sucker by the MIC, and wound up green-lighting the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, and that was after eight years of Senate experience and all the rest. Bernie would be like putty in the hands of the war party and that is and has been my greatest objection to his candidacy.

[kristopher]

31. Hillary's record of horrible judgement. Bernie's record of outstanding judgement.

Hillary's record of horrible judgement.
Bernie's record of outstanding judgement.

[amborin]

6. ROFLMAO! Hillary is a foreign policy disaster; she's a war mongering neo-con & strengthened ISIS

[FreakinDJ]

10. I'm affraid Hillary would be a George Bush presidency all over again

Falsely inflated economic cycle and endless war followed by another crushing tax on the middle class to bail out wall st

[amborin]

13. Plus, she would immediately approve the disastrous TPP

[FreakinDJ]

15. That has been proven by the latest Email dump

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511281516

[gyroscope]

5. Meanwhile,

Hillary Clinton was a republican campaigning for the GOP.

[leftofcool]

7. Sorry, Bernie is no JFK. Not even close.

[gyroscope]

9. He's a lot closer to JFK than Hillary ever was

[Dawgs]

24. Good. I'd rather have another FDR than a JFK anyways.

And, like others have said, it would be so much better than another Nixon.

[FreakinDJ]

26. I know FDR would call your statement delusional

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[MohRokTah]

8. Sanders is NO JFK.

HE bears no resemblance to FDR, either.

[tk2kewl]

12. damned closer resemblance to both than anything we've seen in half a century though

and frankly i'd argue he is a more moral man than either of them.

[MohRokTah]

14. JFK would have DESPISED Sanders

HE hated Socialism.

[tk2kewl]

16. thanks for adding to my point on morality

[FreakinDJ]

18. Sure - Hillary and her followers are all in favor of bringing back McCathyism

Mc·Car·thy·ism

noun: McCarthyism

a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party.

•a campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations.

[workinclasszero]

20. Damn those pesky facts again

Always get in the way of Bernie worship around here.

[tk2kewl]

21. so you no likey SS or Medicare

public roads, schools, police and fire departments... etc etc...

[FreakinDJ]

25. Pesky Facts like Hillary secretly Lobbying FOR the TPP

Careful what you ask for when you want to talk about facts

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511281516


Hillary's Email server never fails to disappoint

[AZ Progressive]

30. Because you say so?

Your still stuck in the old political rules of the past. Times are changing.

[HereSince1628]

11. I can't shake the feeling it was a great rationalization for developing missle technology

for the military. Yes, it spurred other technological developments as well as a path along which 'our system' could manifest greatness over 'their system'.

I don't get a great warm fuzzy feeling about America's involvement in the 'space race'.

[FreakinDJ]

19. Intercontinental Missiles were already deployed by the time he made this speech

JFK was proposing Interplanetary travel

[HereSince1628]

29. Yes, and at the time he made his speech they were recognized as inadequate.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

22. Sanders offers a new narrative. No more confining discussions to the right wing frames.

About ten years ago a book was published that detailed the 40 right wing think tanks funded by a billion dollars each year. The goal of these organizations is to limit the range of topics that get broadcast to the world and frame how these topics are to be understood.

Many of the talking heads have been trained in these places and they have been very effective in directing the way the American think about issues. Climate change is a very good example. Many here can see through the confusion spread about this issue but still are not able to do the same with so many other issues.

No we can't is true for those living in the right wing world. There are many wise people that quietly offer rational solutions to many of the problems that we face. It is time to listen to these voices. It is time to elevate a different and rational approach to our problems.

Sanders offers us a chance to take a fresh look at the world around us. Sanders offers us a chance to explore new possibilities in the way we deal with our challenges.

Sanders offers us a chance to Change the Narrative.

Take the chance - accept the challenge - join the movement that can Change the Narrative.

[FreakinDJ]

23. +1000

[HassleCat]

27. Clinton's foreign policy would be like Kennedy's foreign policy.

How easy it is to remember only the good things. We got involved in Vietnam. We tried to invade Cuba. Kennedy was an anti-communist and supporter of the domino theory. He sold us the "missile gap" idea, the 1960s equivalent of WMD. I have a feeling President Hillary Clinton will return us to those golden days of yesteryear, and we will at east drop some bombs on Iran, perhaps more than that. If some small, defenseless nation pops up on our radar screen, an invasion might prove irresistible.