Opaque Lucidity

Bobby

If you are a Baby Boomer, you may want to stop reading now. I'm going to talk about your generation in terms that are less than flattering. No generation is homogeneous, so what I say here may not apply to you. If the shoe fits, wear it.

I am tired of every step the Baby Boomer generation takes being the first, best and unique. Take retirement, for example. People have been retiring for quite some time in this country, but somehow, your generation is going to re-write the book---at least that's what Dennis Hopper keeps telling me. And, of course, we will undoubtedly be treated to the AARP version of "ThirtySomething" very soon: people in their late 50's whining about retirement, aging parents, end-of-life issues, etc. These issues didn't exist until you ran into them.

I realize part of this is marketing. Boomers represent a goldmine of revenue for advertisers, so they are the focus of much we see on TV and hear on the radio. Fair enough. But the over-glamorization of the Boomers' time in the sun (the 60's) makes me sick. You had your war. Those of you who protested on college campuses and in the streets helped to lose that war here at home. You emboldened this nation's enemies, for they understood American media better than you did. You were duped; you were suckers for the Man in Hanoi. And the better part of your generation who actually went to Vietnam were dumped on by you. And they still feel that today. Congratulations---you accomplished nothing but millions of deaths in Southeast Asia at the hands of communists in Vietnam and Cambodia.

And so we come to 'Bobby', a movie opening next weekend about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I want to state, for the record, some truths about the Kennedys for those of you who are still in love with those heady days of Camelot. First, Joe Kennedy was nothing more than a common criminal and a serial womanizer. John Kennedy followed his father's predatory nature, but he didn't have to resort to white collar crime because the family fortune had already been made.

Second, Joe Kennedy bought his son's 1960 Presidential election. Had Richard Nixon not been so beat down by his experience, the Chicago vote could've been contested by the Republicans, most likely with success. Without Chicago, Kennedy would've lost the election in Illinois and, thus, the national contest.

And so every liberal whiner in Hollywood has lined up to be part of the 'Bobby' fiction. Robert Kennedy, like his brother Ted, would've been nothing without his family name. He was not particularly bright and was impossible to get along with. Had he won the Presidency in 1968, his time in office would've been a liberal, free-spending disaster. At least his brother John had the good sense to surround himself with very smart people; Bobby didn't even have that much going for him. And yet, he will emerge from this movie as a saint for a new generation of Americans too young to remember and too disinterested to learn on their own.