Perhaps the strangest conspiracy theory (I don't like the term but in this case it's appropriate) of '08 was the idea that if Obama won the election there would be another Dallas. Now, while it's perfectly understandable why people might think this, I believe that most conspiracy researchers would strongly disagree. Not that there isn't enough evidence to suggest President Kennedy and his brother Robert were assassinated by sinister rogue factions within the government, there just isn't much to show Obama is a new Kennedy.
True, on the surface of it at least, there are some intriguing parallels between Obama today and JFK back in the 1960s. Kennedy, of course, as well as being the youngest ever President of the United States (and the first to be born in the 20th century) was also the first Commander-in-Chief to come from an Irish-Catholic background. Likewise, the still-youthful Obama is the first African American to ascend to the Presidency. However, this is hardly enough to justify calling Obama the heir to an icon like JFK.
So just why exactly are so many people making this strange comparison between the greatest President of the 20th century and a guy no one had even heard of just two short years ago?
Perhaps a less obvious but far more important parallel isn't between Obama and President Kennedy per see, but rather their respective eras: the near-apocalyptic Cold War 1960's and the (arguably equally dangerous) age of Terror Wars and looming Depression we find ourselves increasingly confronted with today.
The 1950s and early 60s, as is understood by anyone who has ever seen a UFO documentary, was a time of escalating tensions between the communist East and the free world. World War III had been narrowly avoided in Korea and new crises in Cuba and Vietnam threatened to turn the Cold War hot. Fortunately for America, and the world, Kennedy was alive long enough to find a peaceful solution to the Cuban collision before things really got MAD. (Mutually Assured Destruction.) And, had JFK lived to win a second term it is entirely conceivable that the Vietnam War could have ended before it ever really began. America could have avoided a humiliating defeat and a bloody stain on its national psyche that has haunted the nation ever since.
Similarly today, despite the fall of the Iron Curtain and America's greatest adversary a generation ago, the world seems to face just as much peril now as it did in Kennedy's era. War continues in Afghanistan and Iraq and may soon spread to Iran or even Pakistan. A new fallout has begun between the West and Russia. And, let's not forget the meltdown of the world economy and the Antarctic too. (Whether manmade or not.)
With so many problems echoing the darker side of the 1960s, it shouldn't be any surprise that people should want to equate Obama and his message of "change" with JFK and the "New Frontier" he represented. Sadly, though, this is already starting to look like just wishful thinking. The fact that Obama would ask Hillary Clinton of all people to be his Secretary of State should have made that perfectly clear. Kennedy fired relics from the old guard, he didn't try to bring them back into the fold. This brings us to the question of why JFK was killed and the biggest reason I don't think Obama is a new JFK.
Kennedy's firings and other factors probably played their part, however, most assassination researchers believe Vietnam was most likely the major reason for Kennedy's death (and was probably a major factor in his brother's death too). America would drop more bombs in Vietnam than were dropped throughout the whole of WWII. Just think of all the billions that must have cost alone, never mind the money for tanks, helicopters and everything else you need for a war. In all, it's estimated that America spent around $150 billion on the conflict. All of which was fed to the Military-Industrial Complex machine.
The uncomfortable truth is war equals big money and money equals power. Kennedy's possible plans to end the Cold War and withdraw from Vietnam were a threat to this sad equation and the Military-Industrial Complex literally had billions to lose.
President Kennedy was a peacemaker and likely died for it. Obama in contrast (despite the feel-good virtual reality) has thus far only shown himself to be an architect of war. Yes, he has plans to withdraw troops from Iraq but only to expand the war in Afghanistan. Add to this his open support for bombing Pakistan (which shares a border with Afghanistan) and you have a very worrisome situation brewing indeed. Perhaps even a new Terror War to add to the list. Only this time around it would be against a real nuclear weapons state.
In summary, the more you learn about Barack Obama, the less like a new JFK and the more like a transatlantic Tony Blair does he really look. In fact, some in the conspiracy research community go much further comparing Obama to Benito Mussolini, the infamous Fascist dictator of Italy. It's way too early to go that far but one thing is for sure, when you take into account his pro-war stances, the idea of another Dallas really does seem ridiculous. If there ever was a new JFK it was RFK (not Obama) and he paid the same price as his brother for being a peacemaker. As things stand now, I really don't think Obama has anything to fear.
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