Well, the race is coming to a close and the democrats seem to be getting themselves into a sweat, bizarrely, about possibly loosing to McCain.
I say bizarrely because it seems impossible, from this side of the pond, for McCain to do anything but lose. This is, of course, a point of view unaffected by the news storm surrounding the VPs and the Obama campaign’s unwillingness to bare it’s teeth, but nevertheless, the American people in general and the democratic party in particular seem to have forgotten that John McCain is running on the heels of one of the most unpopular presidents in history, at the head of one of the most disastrous administrations in history. How can Obama possibly lose?
No, my fear has been that Obama stands more of a risk of being assassinated than he does of losing the election. For once, the comparisons with JFK seem justified, and some of his rhetoric has surely upset some very powerful shady people.
But then I found this list, which amused and reassured me in somewhat equal measure. Maybe with the name Obama he’s safe after all…
Lincoln – Kennedy Coincidences
1) Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy in 1960, 100 years apart.
2) Both men were deeply involved in civil rights for African Americans.
3) Both men were assassinated on a Friday, in the presence of their wives.
4) Each wife had lost a child while living at the White House.
5) Both men were killed by a bullet that entered the head from behind.
6) Lincoln was killed in Ford’s Theater. Kennedy met his death while riding in a Lincoln convertible made by the Ford Motor Company.
7) Both men were succeeded by vice-presidents named Johnson who were Southern Democrats and former senators.
Andrew Johnson was born in 1808. Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908, exactly one hundred years later.
9) The first name of Lincoln’s private secretary was John; the last name of Kennedy’s private secretary was Lincoln.
10) John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839 [according to some sources]; Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939, one hundred years later.
11) Both assassins were Southerners who held extremist views.
12) Both assassins were murdered before they could be brought to trial.
13) Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled to a warehouse. Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theater.
14) LlNCOLN and KENNEDY each have 7 letters.
15) ANDREW JOHNSON and LYNDON JOHNSON each have 13 letters.
16) JOHN WlLKES BOOTH and LEE HARVEY OSWALD each has 15 letters.
17) A Licoln staffer Miss Kennedy told him not to go to the Theater. A Kennedy staffer, Miss Lincoln, told him not to go to Dallas.
Spooky eh? Looking at the list, I’m sure there are more. It’s a bit like playing ‘where’s wally’…
my favorite spooky bit of Lincoln trivia:
a year or so before Lincoln’s assassination, his son was on a railway platform in New Yersey and fell in front of a train.
His life was saved by a nam who he instantly recognised, one of the foremost Shakespearian actors of the day, considered to be the best American Hamlet of the nineteenth century: Edwin Booth. Brother of John Wilkes Booth.
By: Ian Rennie on September 17, 2008
at 3:10 am
I’d like to think the American public will choose something different (Obama) but I have absolutely no faith that they will after the last election. Do you know any alcoholics/addicts? It’s just like that. You hope for them, you try to help but after a while you don’t feel like helping any more because they aren’t trying to help themselves and each time something goes wrong you’re like “Well she’s finally hit rock bottom” but you find that 60 days later she runs away from rehab and goes on a bender and you’re back at square one.
America doesn’t seem to know that repeating these last 8 years with McCain is going to harm them. And the whole rest of the world is going to give up if they won’t help themselves.
By: angelchrome on September 17, 2008
at 12:51 pm