Words, Inspirations and Politicians

My very first political memory was of Robert F. Kennedy when he visited the Monterey Airport on March 25, 1968. Having enrolled at a junior College in Salinas, and having just arrived in the US (legally), here was an opportunity to meet a man who had taken on a sitting President (Lyndon Johnson) and challenged America to bring an end to the Vietnam War. We drove to the Airport in a beat up 1952 Rambler and on the tarmac of the airport eagerly awaited the arrival of Bobbie.
Bobbie's plane landed at this small airport and he was carried off on his shoulders into the crowd. He made his speech and then jumped into the crowd. I remember his words, (Fear not the path of truth for the lack of people walking on it) but most of all I remember shaking his hand.
It is indeed fitting that the Kennedy clan has endorsed Barrack Obama for Robert Kennedy inspired Obama. At a Human Rights Award Ceremony presentation in 2005, Barack talked about Bobbie:
"Obviously, much has to do with charisma and eloquence – that unique ability, rare for most but common among Kennedys, to sum up the hopes and dreams of the most diverse nation on Earth with a simple phrase or sentence; to inspire even the most apathetic observers of American life."
It is said that history repeats itself. A lying President (Johnson) who lied about the reason for the Vietnam war, that resulted in 5.1 Million Dead (the US Casualties alone were 350,000) was challenged by a man of charisma and vision. Today Obama rises to challenge in unequivocal terms the deceit of another lying President whose war has so far killed over 1,200,000. Johnson had the decency not to run for another term. Bush has termed out.
We do need change. We do need a leader who looks out for America first and stands up to the interest of the lobbyist. This will not be an easy task for any elected leader, given the millions of dollars that are required to campaign, and the millions more that fill the coffers of the US Congress, but to the extent that a leader is elected by the grass roots he stands a better chance of fulfilling the promise of America.
It will ultimately not be the words that the great orator speaks that will define the actions, but the expectations that the citizenry places upon him or her and whether those expectations can check the might (and the beauty) of the lobbyist bearing fruit.