On Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Presidential Aspirations

It’s not every day that you get the opportunity to attend a speech announcing a presidential campaign. Even less when it is in your home city, and walkable from your house. It’s even more memorable when the candidate has a certain cachet to them. Thus was the case this morning as Robert F. Kennedy Jr announced his audacious ambition to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president. I say ’audacious’ since the party already has a presumptive candidate, the sitting president of the United States, Joe Biden. However, since Biden has yet to officially declare his intention to seek a second term, perhaps Mr. Kennedy is not getting as far ahead of himself as it may seem. 

Speaking at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel to a packed ballroom of volunteers, supporters, and the merely curious, Kennedy drew his most vocal support by attacking big pharma, the media, and corporate interests, determined, he insisted, on profiting from continued divisions within the country. 

He was joined on sage by this wife, actress Cheryl Hines, best known for her role in Curb Your Enthusiasm. I’m not quite sure what to make of her contribution to the campaign but following so many presidential candidates who have proved to be a joke, it may be refreshing to have a comedian as potential First Lady.

Considering his father’s fate, it was a little un-nerving to watch Kennedy speak in a hotel ball room in a setting not dis-similar to that of 1968.  Indeed, Kennedy’s speech was laced with multiple references to his Uncle Jack, and to his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated as they sought to instigate the kind of change that RFK Jr insisted was still necessary in 2023. Notable in its absence was any reference to his Uncle Ted, the last member of the family to seek the presidency, also by challenging a Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter. Missing also was the candidate’s mother, Ethel, as well as the vast majority of his many siblings, several of whom are employed directly or indirectly by the very administration he seeks to displace. 

How might he do so? Surely his best bet is to become the focus of the strident anti-Biden vote, drawing upon those opposed to vaccinations, corruption, the war in Ukraine, and the apparent status quo, but unwilling to vote Republican. Assuming Biden does seek a second term there will be ample opportunities for debates ahead of the primaries, but the very timing of those debates could well hand Kennedy an opportunity. The decision to move the South Carolina Primary to January, depriving New Hampshire of its ‘first in the nation’ status could provide New England voters an opportunity to anoint Kennedy as a favorite son and deliver a rebuke to Biden akin to that received by Lyndon Johnson in 1968 at the hands of Gene McCarthy. 

To last that long, however, Kennedy will need to find a focus and a core to his campaign. On the evidence provided today in Boston, he will also need a strong speech writing team. In a speech that lacked focus or direction, Kennedy covered a wide assortment of issues without finding a key theme or apparent intent. Indeed, if you had missed his line, announcing his intention to seek the nomination, you would be forgiven for thinking that this was merely a pleasant stroll down memory lane as Kennedy reflected upon his father, his murder, and the terrible loss that this had resulted in. The longer he rambled on, the more people began to drift away, out into the sunshine of a warm spring day here in Boston.

There is undoubtedly room in the 2024 electoral season for a strong challenge to Joe Biden, whose age, mental capacities, and sagging poll numbers should give pause for thought about whether he has any right seeking a second term. Whether the solution, however, is a 69-year-old with no record of running for, or holding public office is another matter. As was once said of his uncle, “if his name was Edward Moore, his candidacy would be a joke.” Well, no one was laughing in 1962 and no one is laughing in 2023, because of the magic of the name. But it remains to be seen of the luster surrounding the Kennedy dynasty is still sufficient to deliver a political surprise in the 2024 primary season.

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One Thought on On Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Presidential Aspirations

  1. Nice write up

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