[Posted by WLS]
That the current crop of top-tier Democrat candidates in some ways mirrors the three-candidate race in 1968 prior to the assassination of RFK.
As far as the players, I’d say that Obama is in the role RFK, Hillary is in the role of Humphrey, and Edwards is in the role of McCarthy.
RFK might have beaten Nixon in 1968 simply based on his family identity and a yearning to return to the days of JFK.
But Obama’s name ain’t Kennedy, so I don’t see him winning with the same basic coalition of Dem. interest groups that backed RFK.
Hillary represents the establishment much like Humphrey represented LBJ, with the 2008 establishment looking for a return to the political success of the Clinton Administration.
And Edwards fits the character portrait of McCarthy, a lightweight, no-talent political neophyte whose strongest asset as a candidate is his own ego.
I know these parallels aren’t perfect, and there’s lots of reasons to mix-n-max, and important differences that distinguish them. I’m simply putting my simple assertion out here to generate some debate.
And, we know what happened to Humphrey.
