Joe III must find Kennedy magic to tackle Trump
COULD it be? Could it really happen? Could a scion of the Kennedy political dynasty be just the man to whip the ground from under Donald J Trump. And more importantly – from the viewpoint of The Donald’s countless detractors – stop him from bagging a second term in the White House?
This week has seen the arrival of Joe Kennedy III into America’s political frontline. What seems to be an increasingly desperate Democratic Party wheeled him out to be its number one heavy hitter at a pivotal time in its fortunes. His job was to reply to Mr Trump’s first State of the Union address.
For there is surely a gnawing fear out there. Despite all the brickbats thrown his way on both sides of the Atlantic, Mr Trump has more than a head-start when it comes to winning the 2020 presidential election. The biggest tailwind he’s got is a US economy that is powering ahead, especially on the jobs front. As of now, it looks like only a ‘name’ candidate, with proven vote-getting appeal, will bring him down.
Meanwhile, it is a remarkable 58 years since John Fitzgerald Kennedy, with a Catholic Irish-American background, turned history on its head and made it to the Oval Office. The ensuing Kennedy family saga has been told and retold. There have been the assassinations, and assorted scandals wrought by womanising on a grand scale, coupled with alcohol and substance abuse. There have been heartbreaking stories of battling serious illness, most notably cancer. And with each generation, there have been the extremities of political success, often laced with failure.
The long political life of Ted Kennedy, who died in 2009 aged 77, kept the family legacy to the forefront. However, no real keeper of the flame has emerged in recent times. There were some false starts and modest achievements. However, nobody from the extended clan came on the scene with the kind of star quality that might propel a run for the presidency.
But could it be that from the collective of Kennedy grandchildren, 37-year-old Joe has finally decided to strike out and rekindle some past glories. Despite his political pedigree – and apart from the famous name – he has not been an especially big league player. His role as a Massachusetts congressman has been somewhat low-key, dwarfed by the huge pantheon of politician life in America.
He says he did not wish to make waves purely riding on the crest of the family name. He would prefer his successes to be based on his own abilities. However, he certainly has the ‘Kennedy look’. The bright blue eyes and the firm jawline are a clear genetic legacy from the JFK era. And he’s even got red hair, one of the ultimate calling cards to proclaim an Irish heritage.
But unfortunately there is one area where he compares less favourably to his illustrious predecessors – his speaking voice. Back in the day, the Kennedys were especially noted for a distinctive eloquence and the capacity to carry a crowd by the sheer power of their vocal presence. They were helped, as we now know, by employing some of the best speech writers money could buy. But be that as it may, those Bostonian vowels from back then have stood the test of time, as even a cursory listen to some YouTube videos will testify.
This latest Kennedy can come across as a diffident and nervous public speaker. This is somewhat surprising given the illustrious lineage of a family so rooted in the public arena. Maybe he feels weighed down by the burden of history and what will be expected of him should he risk a run for president.
The delivery of his anti-Trump speech was at times hesitant and uneven. At one point he was so nervous, a much commented-upon collection of saliva around his mouth was visible to millions of television viewers.
However, when it came to the content of his remarks, his stance was clear-cut and forceful. He confronted core Trump ideology on issues such as immigration and healthcare, and the divisions these are causing in America. From an Irish perspective, his policies sounded distinctly socialist, in sharp contrast to the buccaneering capitalism favoured by the current White House incumbent.
Mr Kennedy, in fact, also gave an evocative speech on immigration laced with symbolism on St Patrick’s Day. He traced his own family roots, painting an image of forbears fleeing famine-ravaged 19th-century Ireland to forge a better life in the New World. And he recalled a scrapbook kept by the matriarch of the family, Rose Kennedy, with ‘No Irish Need Apply’ newspaper cuttings, when jobs were advertised in the ‘old days’.
Perhaps the bottom line is whether this multi-millionaire politician, with personal wealth estimated at up to $60m (€48m), has the inner drive and fierce ambition to achieve the highest office in the land. Maybe a sign he was always determined to travel his own pathway was a decision to avoid all alcohol, even going back to his student days. His stated preference was a glass of milk rather than a pint of beer; his classmates would dub him ‘The Milkman’.
MANY twists and turns lie ahead for Joe Kennedy III if he is to embrace the quest for political greatness. First off, he has major hurdles to climb if he is to see off competitors within the Democratic Party and win the nomination to run for president. And then there is the great unknown – can a Kennedy resonate with a new generation of Americans and generate the magic of yore?
Meanwhile, his capacity to really wow voters when speaking in public can be worked on. There should be enough residual instinct in his DNA to resurrect the old charm which was such a powerful vote-getter in his grandfather’s era. After that, it will all depend on his own gut instinct. Has he really got something unique to offer the electorate – and has he got the bottle to face down The Donald?
One way or another, a do-or-die presidential contest between Donald Trump and America’s most alluring political dynasty to determine who sits on the Oval Office would be enthralling.
“There are no second acts in American lives,” F Scott Fitzgerald once famously intimated. The Kennedy clan might just prove him wrong if another of their brood becomes president of the United States.
His capacity to really wow voters when speaking in public can be worked on. There should be enough residual instinct in his DNA to resurrect the old charm of his grandfather