It was the kind of uplifting challenge that symbolized the opening of the anything-is-possible 1960s and rightfully has been in the history books and on the lips of many Americans ever since. Baby Boomers even like to believe we've practiced what he preached.
Now a new Camelot is at hand. Comparisons between JFK and Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama have been rife for months. Expect them to increase. Just today a photo caption in the New York Times describes Mrs. Obama's dress as having "a Camelot reference."
Mr. Obama's charisma and his sunny prescription of hope in a fairly dismal time are viewed through the lens of the aging Left and their don't-know-any-better younger allies as a reincarnation of the youthful Kennedy bringing an end to the dark ages of the Eisenhower presidency. Students of history realize, of course, that it was the triumph of style over substance, but that's another story.
What a difference 47 years make though. Now Mr. Obama and his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, will spend the next five months turning Mr. Kennedy's deathless quotation upside down, offering every kind of government prescription possible and then some. In the age of no-responsibility, the new mantra is, "Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country can do for you."
Doesn't ring quite as true, does it? Oh well, don't worry: No one's going to drop that line in a campaign speech this summer or fall.
