Presidents and Other Bedfellows

I'm old enough to remember two holidays in February; Washington's Birthday on the 22nd, and Lincoln's Birthday on the 12th. The Father and the Savior of Our Country, respectively. It was the least we could do. At some point, Congress decided we needed a three-day weekend, at least for some of us; banks, government offices, libraries, schools, places like that.

I'm also old enough to remember when Kennedy was shot, and exactly where I was and what I was doing. (Third grade, just got back from recess.) He was Catholic, and none had ever been President. Even so, my parents were not fans of the Kennedys, so I never grew up learning to admire him much either. The family all seemed to have a certain magic about them. But in 1960, Mom and Dad both voted for Nixon. I was going on six when I asked them how they could do a thing like that. Years later, when I lived in Georgetown, I would hear stories of how "Jack had a way with the ladies." Thirty years after his passing, the neighbors still talked about his days in Congress, how he would walk from his home at 3808 N Street to Martin's Tavern, and meet a different blonde every night. Seems he had a thing for blondes. (???) Oh, and for all the talk of his being Catholic, he never admitted to being very good at it.

Fast forward to the present. The Kennedy family would appear to endure more tragedy than most, but I would question that. Many families lose their loved ones, but very few do so with an audience, and it's harder to grieve when strangers are watching. You give up something for your notoriety. Some members of this family could be given some credit, having forsaken more lucrative careers (as if they needed the money, right?) for a life of "giving back."

ABC News reports that ex-Congressman Joseph Kennedy is helping poor families buy heating oil at bargain prices -- from Venezuela.



In a TV commercial, former Rep Joseph Kennedy stands aboard an oil tanker moving across the Boston skyline and promises that millions of gallons of discounted heating oil are on their way to poor, shivering families, courtesy of “our good friends in Venezuela.”

What he doesn’t mention is that those “good friends” include Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a socialist and staunch U.S. critic who famously called President Bush “the devil” in a speech last year at the United Nations.

The reference to Venezuela has led to accusations that Kennedy is a shill for Chavez.

And so, See Dubya of Hot Air shines a spotlight on strange bedfellows: "[T]hose price controls of Hugo’s ain’t working out to good. Funny that he would give us evil Americans a break on the oil price, while his own people starve and inflation spirals out of control."

There are plenty of fingers to point elsewhere in this case. Our own government had no difficulty dealing with Saddam when it suited them, only a few years before Bush the Elder was calling him "worse than Hitler." And few of us are going to lose any sleep buying appliances (and eventually automobiles) made in China. After all, capitalism brings democracy, right? The price of empire is not only getting your hands dirty with unsavory people; you become overextended to the point where you can't take care of your own. Or you placate them with "bread and circuses" to the point where they cannot take care of themselves. It's not hard to imagine the poor in uppity-rich-liberal Massachusetts buying heating oil at forty percent off, regardless of who's selling. Kennedy doesn't have the telegenic talents of the previous generations, and comes off a little too nervous in an interview with Neil Cavuto of Fox News. But still, he may be on to something.



Is Venezuela taking advantage of a situation? Probably. But so are the disadvantaged of the Northeast. They'd better make the most of it, before the disadvantaged of Venezuela decide the honeymoon with Hugo is over. They will soon enough.