Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s Ripple of Hope Moment
Will Middle East Conflict be the Waterloo for RFK Jr’s “Peace” Campaign - or his Ripple of Hope?
A Ripple of Hope
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Whether you like it or not, Robert Kennedy Jr. is within striking distance of becoming a power-candidate for President in a three-way race with Donald Trump and Joe Biden - or whoever the two-party duopoly places on the ballot for the general election.
Anyone paying close attention to the current state of the 2024 Presidential race would have to tell you that, while at first blush, it seems predestined to be a rerun between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, there are many ways that the race can go sideways for both Biden or Trump.
Trump’s base seems to have solidified with every new indictment, court ruling and revelation, but the remaining majority of the Republican Party is increasingly tired of the never-ending drama of Trump World.
President Biden, a competent but cautious President, suffers from at least three immutable liabilities: His age; food and commodity prices, a daily reminder that inflationary pressures are still taking a heavy toll on the American people and will for the foreseeable future; and a running mate who fails to inspire confidence.
Even among those unconcerned about Biden’s age, there is grave concern about the general weakness of the Democratic ticket, particularly regarding Kamala Harris.
And yet, above and beyond these liabilities of Trump and Biden, are the mutable, but ignored, liabilities. The seeds of our discontent too long ignored and today threatening to rend the fabric of this beautiful tapestry we call Democracy in the United States; a tapestry we have woven over the years despite the pain, the tears, and sometimes bitterness of the task. Where even the marginalized, disappointed and downtrodden have found hope in the power of the ideas and its possibilities for a brighter future.
For more than 50 years, the savage disparity of wealth in our country has continued to grow, threatening the future of Americans of every color, creed, religion, class and age. This disparity has been the driving force of the deep divisions in the country and yet no political leader has stepped up to propose anything more than incremental change when something more truly sweeping is required - and ironically, possible.
Americans are rapidly losing faith in American institutions - even in Democracy itself.
The average price of a home has doubled in less than a decade making the dream of home ownership a fast fading one for most young Americans.
Both of the two major political parties have shown a preference for fighting with one another, rather than seeking common ground because it benefits their fund-raising efforts. Both parties have become captives of the donor class and their respective dwindling bases, while simultaneously abandoning the vast majority of the middle class, the working class, and the poor of the country.
Republicans and Democrats both seem only dedicated to democratic principles insofar as it benefits their party. One need only look at their willingness to set aside any commitment that they proclaim to Democracy to see that this is so. Both of the Partys continue to seek ways to put their thumbs on the election scales to prevent Americans from being able to exercise their franchise - ending primaries, moving to switch to caucuses, shifting schedules.
As a result, the vast majority of Americans are disgusted with both political parties.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that Donald Trump and the huge majority of Republican elected officials are an existential threat to our democratic system. Yet, as time goes by and the darkest days of the pandemic recede in our rearview mirrors, it has become more and more clear that The Democratic party leadership has taken a similar course of its own as well: Using untoward methods for pressuring social media companys to enforce their own orthodoxy, conducting a smear campaign against highly respected scientific authorities who questioned their approach to the Pandemic. Political leaders like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others, were smeared and censored through a campaign built on lies, half-truths and wishful thinking.
The Twitter files and the discovery process in the Missouri V. Biden case have demonstrated that both the Trump and Biden Administrations were throwing their weight around to support their administration's orthodoxy creating an “illusion of consensus”, used to suppress dissenting views. Even the origins of Covid19 itself.
Gain of function research, severely restricted by law under President Obama, has continued unabated in contravention of the law and the public interest.
What the party leadership of both parties has yet to figure out is that it is quite likely that at some point in the very near future they are going to turn around and realize that no-one is following them. That the line is forming behind the Independent candidate.
While many of the trends leading up to this next election could be said to favor Kennedy in a three way race, there is one very stubborn issue that may stand between Robert Kennedy Jr and the White House. . . Israel, Gaza and the treatment of the Palestinians.
Right now there is hardly a hair of difference between the positions of Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Bobby Kennedy on this ongoing tragedy in the Middle East. A crisis that increasingly threatens to destabilize the entire region and perhaps the world.
For Trump and Biden, few are surprised, but for Kennedy - ostensibly the “Peace” candidate, it has left many potential supporters scratching their heads at his inconsistency.
Kennedy has tried to differentiate his approach with explanations about his position with various nuanced arguments about the differences between democratic governance and the other governments in question. He is not wrong about these differences, nor is he wrong to be outraged by the tragedy suffered by Israel on October 7th. But the whole world is watching the response of Israel, and they don’t like what they see - even if they hesitate to speak out for fear that they will be branded as anti-semitic. They long for a leader who will help us see a different path forward.
Sixty years ago, when South Africa was facing the same kind of international turmoil and condemnation, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., RFK Jr’s father, ignored the warnings of the government of South Africa and the United States diplomatic corps, as well as the advice of his own team of advisors to stay away from the “Quicksand” of Apartheid and South Africa. He went to South Africa and delivered one of the most important speeches ever given in support of the freedom and dignity of all people. The speech has come to be known as the “Ripple of Hope” speech for a line in the speech, but in fact the speech itself, crafted by RFK and the great Richard Goodwin, was a ripple of hope for South Africa and for all those who thirsted for a world where human rights and dignity thrived.
It took a few decades more to bring about the release and election of Nelson Mandela but the ripples that began that fateful day would join together to sweep down the walls of oppression in South Africa.
We all recognize how challenging the problems of the Middle East are and how we have exacerbated them with our inaction. But action begins with a single ripple of hope as Bobby Sr. reminded us.
No one expects miracles when it comes to facing the fires that have burned for so long in the Middle East. But to simply turn Gaza into a killing field in retaliation for what was unquestionably a blood-thirsty act of Hamas - intended specifically to destabilize the region - only makes matters worse.
Israel has reacted with understandable but counterproductive blind rage, made worse by the vision expressed by the right wing and their strongman leader Benjamin Netanyahu who has alluded to the idea that maybe after we kill off enough Palestinians, we will have a more perfect solution waiting on the other side of this, , an empty and cynical vision.
If Robert Kennedy Jr. could provide his own ripple of hope by outlining a path forward, a path that provides justice and hope for both the Palestinians and the Israelis, it would distinguish him in both the arena of human rights and in the campaign. At the very least it would force both Biden and Trump to offer their own ideas to the mix.
Yes, there will be some folks who declare that he has come to the table too late, but most will appreciate that, like his father, he is a man unafraid to face difficult problems, to listen and respond to them in thoughtful and empathic ways, even if they require him to shift his perspective.
Likewise, there are many aspects of the current situation in the Middle East that Kennedy can use to highlight the issues he has already built his campaign on. For example, as Netanyahu has created more and deeper division in his country, it has become less safe. The October 7 attack was a result. This is a powerful example of what might happen in the US if Trump were elected to another term.
If the corporate capture of US agencies begins to look more and more like the good-ol-boy appointments made by Netanyahu under either Trump or Biden, faith in US institutions will be further undermined, greatly exacerbating the deep divisions within our country.
RFK Jr. could begin by listening to the carefully crafted vision of Yuval Noah Harari - a respected public intellectual and an Israeli citizen - who has suggested that Netanyahu should not be allowed to use this emergency as a means of salvaging his career and should be pressured to announce his permanent resignation with a new election in Israel scheduled in 6 months - in which he would not be a candidate. This combined with a restart of the Peace process and a demand that both Israelis and Palestinians commit to the process, which must include disarming Hamas.
If Kennedy continues to sit on his hands his currently strong support among younger Americans will begin to erode. If he will simply offer some ray of hope, the entire dynamics of the conflict in the Middle East right now might shift in a positive direction. He will also demonstrate to the skeptics that the criticisms of him by the Democratic party have been a smokescreen to protect the Biden administration.
In terms of the presidential race, he would certainly set himself apart from Donald Trump and Joe Biden on one of the great issues of our time . . . and he might just become the President to restore real American greatness and leadership to the world.
Notes & Links
Gaza & Global Order: A Conversation with Yuval Noah Harari
Ripple of Hope Speech, Robert F. Kennedy Sr and Richard Goodwin
About Wayne D. King: Author, podcaster, artist, activist, social entrepreneur and recovering politician. A three-term State Senator, 1994 Democratic nominee for Governor. His art (WayneDKing.com) is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published five books of his images, most recently, "New Hampshire - a Love Story”. His novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline as well as the photographic books are available at most local bookstores or on Amazon. He lives on the “Narrows” in Bath, NH at the confluence of the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc Rivers and proudly flies the American, Iroquois and Abenaki Flags. His publishing website is: Anamaki.com.
Produced at Anamaki Studios in Bath, NH.
This land lies in N’dakinna, the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Sokoki, Koasek, Pemigewasset, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples, past and present. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude those who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.
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