Last night, a Super Bowl ad for RFK Jr. shamelessly misappropriated John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. To my mind, the pairing does nothing but highlight RFK Jr.’s inadequacy:
Experience
When JFK, 29, ran for Congress, he’d served in the military. By the time he ran for president, he’d served in Congress for over a decade.
RFK Jr., 70, is running for president with no experience in the military or Congress.
Honors
JFK had been awarded the Purple Heart and won the Pulitzer Prize for biography.
RFK Jr. has received no comparable honors.
It’s not the first time that RFK Jr. has misused his family’s legacy, inspiring a rare rebuttal from the Kennedys.
RFK Jr. has already issued a lame apology with a dubious defense: He had no involvement with the super PAC that made the ad. On Friday, the DNC filed a complaint against RFK and the super PAC for illegal coordination. (As many have pointed out, the super PAC has received $15 million from Timothy Mellon, a Republican who has also given $10 million to another super PAC backing disgraced former President Donald J. Trump.)
RFK Jr. lacks all the qualities of a great leader and at least two key ingredients of a successful nepo baby: Hard work, common sense, and service. Let’s hope he makes his inevitable retreat soon.
See you soonish! Until then, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram. If you’d like a personalized copy of my books, please order them from Oblong.