Unity is Obama's theme.
From Robert Dallek
I think the public can t accept the idea that someone as inconsequential as Oswald could have killed someone as consequential as Kennedy. They don t want to believe the world is that chaotic. It is.
At the start of first terms, presidents invariably have a measure of goodwill.
Obama is cutting back on the idea that we're going to have Jeffersonian democracy in Pakistan or anywhere else.
Television has an awful lot to do with the Kennedy mystique and the fact that he's frozen in people's minds at the age of 46, and he was handsome and personable and witty and charming.
For style and for creating a mood of optimism and hope - Kennedy on that count is as effective as any president the country has had in its history.
By the time a second term rolls around, the illusions about a president have largely evaporated.
There's a certain clubbiness to the idea that you're an ex-president. You're no longer a politician. You're a statesman.
Harry Truman wrote scathing letters, but he almost never sent them.
It's always valuable for someone running for president... to have as much bipartisan support as possible.
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