Yesterday, today, tomorrow: Bobby Kennedy and Barack Obama

On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy,… On June 5, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Ted Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles during his campaign for the presidency.

On June 3, 2008, some 40 years after the assassination of Robert “Bobby” Kennedy, Sen. Barack Obama claimed the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for the president of the United States in November’s election.

Despite running for the president of the United States decades apart from each other, the tales of Kennedy and Obama are intertwined not just by party but by their political character and by the influence that each has had on the United States of America. During Bobby Kennedy’s campaign for the presidency in 1968, Kennedy generated almost unparalleled amounts of enthusiasm, comparable to the overwhelming adoration and support amassed by his older brother’s during his brief presidency.

In his announcement for his intention to run for the presidency, Kennedy maintained that he was running to “close the gaps that now exist between white and black, between rich and poor, between young and old.” Much like the widespread support that Obama maintains, Kennedy’s popularity spanned across racial, ethnic, social and generational boundaries.

Throughout the 1960s, Kennedy was an incredible champion for civil rights. As attorney general of the United States, Kennedy was the lead prosecutor against numerous corrupt, Southern officials and was one of the most significant players in the desegregation of the United States.

During his time as attorney general under John F. Kennedy’s administration, many of the civil rights initiatives that were passed were a direct result of Kennedy’s determination to bring an end to racial injustice in the United States.

Additionally, Bobby Kennedy was one of the noteworthy contributors to arguably the most significant legislation passed in modern American history: the Civil Rights Act, which effectively outlawed segregation in schools, public places and employment.

Obama, who is the first black person to have attained the nomination for the president of the United States for either major political party, would not be in such a situation if not for Kennedy.

The foundation that Kennedy had laid for the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the groundbreaking legislations in which he was a key figure in developing enabled black people the opportunity for social mobility and welfare that was previously unattainable. Ultimately, the momentous work that Kennedy did for civil rights has resulted in one of the most remarkable accomplishments in U.S. history: a black person on the cusp of attaining the highest political office in the United States.

Aside from the direct relationship between the landmark legislations of Kennedy’s political career and Obama’s unprecedented ascension to the democratic nomination for the presidency, both share similar political foundations.

Much like 2008, 1968 was a year in which the United States was entrenched in a seemingly endless war, as well as social and economic inequality. Accordingly, Kennedy founded his presidential campaign on a strangely familiar word: change.

Like Obama, Kennedy was committed to ending a war that was widely considered a failure and executing innovative national policies aimed at promoting social and economic equality and welfare.

Kennedy’s campaign was based entirely on making significant progress in the United States and continuing the steps forward that the nation had made under his older brother’s administration.

It is not a coincidence that Obama has frequently cited John F. Kennedy in speeches over the course of his political campaign. Like Bobby Kennedy, Obama has committed to “changing” the political culture of the United States, ending a war that is seemingly endless, improving the quality of schools, creating more affordable health care and offering new economic opportunities to Americans.

Ultimately, however, Bobby Kennedy’s assassination on the verge of his acceptance of the Democratic Party’s nomination left the United States with one unfortunate question: What might have been? If Barack Obama manages to lose the 2008 presidential election in a year where all the stars are aligned for a Democratic candidate to regain the White House, it seems that Kennedy and Obama will share that question as well.

E-mail Shane at shane.e.levy@gmail.com.