Richard Whalen

There have been countless endorsements for all of the presidential candidates but, as we have seen, these endorsements do not always affect the outcome of primaries.

And some families have split their endorsements. For example, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Senator John McCain and his wife Maria Shriver endorsed Senator Barack Obama at a Los Angeles rally on February 3? Granted Maria is a Kennedy and her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy as well as Caroline Kennedy and Congressmen Patrick Kennedy had already endorsed Obama. But as it turned out, McCain did win California but Obama did not. Obama also lost Massachusetts.

Why didn’t Ted Kennedy stick with Hillary? Christopher Hitchens, close to the EMK crowd, writes of Hillary in Slate.com: “Indifferent to truth, willing to use police-state tactics and vulgar libels against inconvenient witnesses, hopeless on health care and flippant and fast and loose with national security, the case against Hillary Clinton for President is open and shut.”

Beyond the memories of those who have never heard of Chappaquiddick, Kennedy sees Obama as a new vessel of hope who “can lift our hopes and restore our belief that our country’s best days are still to come.” Old Joe Kennedy once famously said: “There are no accidents in politics.” Teddy Kennedy memorized it.

A new Camelot? Until the late 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower’s Midwestern provincialism had symbolized the drab, dull milieu in which politicians operated. Then the young, wealthy and stylish John and Jacqueline Kennedy came to the White House creating a new aura of glamour that surrounded everyone fortunate enough to be included in their circle. What the Kennedy’s said, read, wore and reportedly whispered to each other became the hottest gossip in America and eventually the world. But Camelot was totally bogus because the same old political business was still being conducted in the back room.

Now, unfortunately, we have come full circle. Gerald Seib wrote this week in The Wall Street Journal that the 2008 election will be less about ideology and ideas and more about governing style and leadership ability – intangible qualities. A Washington Post/ABC News poll (question 19) gives 39 percent to New Direction and New Ideas; 51 percent to Strength and Experience and 8 percent to neither or both.

“In New Hampshire, for example, Democrats who said they favored withdrawing all American troops from Iraq as soon as possible – voters who might have been expected to go toward Senator Obama, the most staunchly anti-war candidate – instead broke for Senator Clinton, 41% to 34%,” reports Seib. On the Republican side, although “McCain ranked lowest among Republicans surveyed – ‘shares your position on issues’ – he scored higher on such traits as being knowledgeable and experienced enough to handle the presidency and being honest and straightforward.”

Evidently, we still have not learned that appearances deceive and the tyranny of style will never resolve the brutal economic and financial realities and problems created by the Bush Administration.