Like many Democrats, I fell hard for Bobby Kennedy. Although I wasn’t born when he was killed, his memory is woven into the fabric of the Democratic Party. You couldn’t be a Democrat through the conservative revolution of the 1980s and 1990s without yearning for his voice of outrage.
Bobby was the last politician, except perhaps for Hillary this year, who consciously sought to unite the remaining factions of the New Deal coalition. He sought the votes of African Americans in Watts and conservative whites in Indiana. His funeral train famously symbolized the divided America he sought to unite; for many miles between New York and Washington, whites and blacks, young and old, saluting veterans, nuns, and Americans every stripe lined the train tracks to see the train which took Bobby to his final rest.
It’s been 40 years since he was taken from us. In many ways our country is a more tolerant and better place. Women and minorities are no longer legally treated as second-class citizens, environmental and health standards have been put in place, a massive safety net saves many from abject poverty. But we’re also a cruder and meaner country, a place where destroying your opponent is considered the sign of a smart politician. It’s now considered funny and acceptable to sexualize and degrade women who seek elective office. In contrast, Bobby refused to be interviewed by the very tame Playboy magazine for fear his children would one day see it.
Bobby Kennedy’s voice was direct and honest. Of course he was a politician, but he knew his strength was in his authenticity. Politicians today smooth the edges of their rhetoric. In a desire not to offend, they soften their approach and offer platitudes instead of policies. They sooth us, but they don’t challenge us. Bobby challenged.
A professor from my college, where Bobby visited in the mid-sixties, related to me that when students asked Bobby who would pay for health care for the poor, he simply told them “You will.” His fearless voice is sorely missed today.
On Monday night I’ll be speaking with Thurston Clark, author of the superb new book: The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America. I hope you’ll join us.
What are your memories of Bobby?
