Young Obama voters like to claim the main reason they support their man is his position on Iraq versus Hillary's, failing to realize most are just like him. No skin in the game when it counted, and overlooking his votes since then. Then they have the balls to declare him the victor over Hillary because of a few delegates. That she should adhere to the rules. Like not seating FL and MI.

Captain Kirk would have told these fools to pound sand. So would Bobby Kennedy.

Unlike the kids of today, when I was growing up, there was such a thing called the draft. At the age of 13, as I was about to enter high school, we'd talk about how to avoid going to 'Nam. It was just a given at the time among our crowd that once you turned 17, your ass was overseas. Between that and facing the prospect of being nuked by the Ruskies on a daily basis, it's a wonder there wasn't more rioting in the streets. And those in my neighborhoods weren't even black. Not even close.

In NY, we were represented by the Hillary of the day, ol' RFK himself. Not only did he relocate to NY to redefine himself, he set up base to take on a sitting President throughout his entire term. No one had any illusions, least of all LBJ, that this guy was a shadow government unto himself. Nowadays, RFK is the stuff of mythology. Back then, he was hated and feared. "Ol' Ruthless" they called him.

Progressive bloggers, including guys like Bowers, Stollers and Kos, like to hold Hillary's 2002 vote against her like a sledgehammer as proof her vote makes her unfit to lead the country. These people obviously have no perspective. Hillary's behavior and accountability with regards to Iraq isn't even in the same league as RFK, let alone the same ballpark.

We're talking Vietnam, baby. 58K American lives lost, to say nothing of those still suffering one way or another to this day after all was said and done. And RFK was seen as a major supporter until the Tet offensive, after which he gave a speech on February 8, 1968, which was plastered all over the next day's headlines including the NY Times proclaiming KENNEDY ASSERTS U.S. CANNOT WIN. Ol' Ruthless was denounced as a traitor by no less than three of his friends as a result. To put matters in further perspective of the times, while RFK led LBJ 52 - 32 in a Harris Poll, that same poll also showed 50% of Americans opposed to RFK's position of halting the bombing in Vietnam.

Unlike the Lefties today, no one was publicly asking RFK in print or on TV for ANY apologies on his votes regarding 'Nam. They only wanted to know what his positions were with regards to ending the bloody mess.

While Obama's camp goes around screaming of skulduggery courtesy of Team Clinton, one shudders to think how his team of wimps would handle Bobby's cutthroat tactics. Talk about Machiavellian. While trying to figure out his own political positioning, RFK actively encouraged his rival Eugene McCarthy to run on the anti-war vote, all the while never believing McCarthy would actually run a fool's errand, while he preserved his all his political options. Naturally, the college students provided McCarthy his initial base of support, throwing a monkey wrench into the plan.

The real turning point for RFK was a letter from Pete Hamill, a friend and noted writer, who penned the following in a letter to RFK:

    "If we have LBJ for another four years, there won't be much of a country left. I've heard the arguments about the practical politics... you will destroy the Democratic Party, you will destroy yourself. I say that if you don't run, you might destroy the Democratic Party; it will end up nationally the way it has in New York, a party filled with decrepit old bastards...and young hustlers. with blue hair, trying to get their hands on highway contracts. It will be a party that says to millions and millions of people that they don't count, that the decision of 2000 hack pols does. They will say that idealism is a cynical joke...

    "I wanted to remind you that in Watts I didn't see pictures of Malcolm X or Ron Karenga on the walls. I saw pictures of JFK. That is your capital in the most cynical sense; it is your obligation in another, the obligation of staying true to whatever it was that put those pictures on those walls. I don't think we can afford another five summers of blood. I do know this: if a 15-year-old kid is given a choice between Rap Brown and RFK, he might choose the way of sanity... Give that same kid a choice between Rap Brown and LBJ, and he'll probably reach for his revolver."

These days those of us who lived through those times view the loss of RFK as a future denied, but you wouldn't know it back then when he stuck the shiv into McCarthy's back, announcing his candidacy after McCarthy had run against LBJ in the NH primary. Democrats all over were torn over the prospects of a November disaster with Bobby's entrance into the race.

One can woulda-coulda-shoulda all they want had Ol' Ruthless lived, but we do know what happened in the aftermath of his assassination. Ironically, one of the chief arguments made against RFK running was that if he lost, the GOP would own the Presidency for the next 20 years. Essentially, that's exactly what happened, but as fate would have it, not because of RFK, but in spite of.

Ever since the '68 convention, the Dems pretty much gamed the system to take the nominating decision out of the back rooms as much as possible. Considering the track record of the Dem Primaries over the past 40 years, one would have to say Bill Clinton's success was more a result of his tenacity than anything else. A total fluke when one takes into account the other standard bearers prior to this election season. The back room, on the other hand, gave us FDR, Truman, JFK and LBJ, which pretty much accounts for over 35 years of Democratic gains. Social Security and G.I. Bill, anyone? And that's just for starters. How about The Great Society? How about the benefits still being reaped as a result of NASA?

While the Left made tremendous gains during that time, they also dropped the ball big time as a result of their Obama-like moral superior POV. Believing their arguments would win the day on the basis of their intellectual reasoning,the Left couldn't be bothered with the day-to-day/hand-to-hand/in-the-trenches combat necessary to win hearts and minds of the American public on a regular basis. The Left even displayed its latent sexism by not supporting the ratification of the ERA as much as it should and could have and taking abortion rights for granted once the Supreme Court legalized the procedure.

The Left talks a good fight. Liberals like Bowers, Stollers, Kos and others get everyone all riled up over fighting this bill or that, stopping Alito or some other Right-wing nutjob from a bench appointment, then moan and groan afterwards over why the Dems capitulated as usual.

Then they lead the charge for Hillary to drop out, clamoring her cause a lost one.

Either they're not Trekkers or Kennedy fans, 'cause obviously they haven't a clue.

When writing STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, Nick Meyer came up with the concept of the Kobyashi Maru, the "no-win scenario". Accordinging to the script, only one Starfleet candidate had ever passed the test, which dealt with facing a problem of overwhelming odds, and only as a result of cheating. Predictably, Producer Harve Bennett was aghast that Meyer would dare postulate that a hero such as James T Kirk would ever stoop so low as to cheat to win. Meyer won his argument by pointing to several instances in the original series where Kirk did exactly that in order to overcome such daunting odds.

Author Tom Wolfe recounted in his book THE RIGHT STUFF how the early test pilots would execise every friggin' option when they got into trouble before pushing the jettison button. More often than not, the pilot usually crashed with the plane because they were still exercising their options, never once believing for even a moment they couldn't save their ass at the last second. These guys weren't remembered as foolhardy idiots or thrillseekers, but rather as heroes and patriots who gave their lives for their country.

The Kennedys were like that as well, once upon a time. JFK taking it to the brink with Krushchev over the missiles in Cuba, which is why he'll be forever in the history books as one of our more beloved Presidents. RFK going against his party and President in '68, to be forever remembered in history as one of the greatest Presidents who never was. Even Teddy. I was there in Boston when he announced at Fanueil Hall in Boston that he was taking on Carter for the Presidency, among the crowd that was cheering him on, and it wasn't just a handful of tourists either.

On one hand, Lefties get jealous over the success of the Right-wingers, then piss and moan when Dems stoop to their tactics, claiming the Left is better than that.

Kirk wouldn't be the fictional icon he is if he were portrayed as an indecisive waffler, nor would the Kennedys have achieved the success they've enjoyed had they not kicked ass and taken names. Likewise, the Big Dawg - ol' Slick Willy himself - wouldn't have survived the Primary season back in '92 or his Presidency had he listened to the naysayers back in the day. Nor will Hillary if she does.

And why should she?

She's got over 1000 delegates in her pocket and a guarantee that her opponent won't reach the finish line with the necessary total to declare victory. At a minimum, she has a secure Senate seat to return to, and the power to dictate the party platform and who's the VP. As much as Obama and his supporters would like everyone to believe otherwise, he's not in the driver's seat to the extent the media portrays him as. JFK and LBJ must be laughing their asses off in the afterlife whenever anyone puts the terms "Obama" and "commanding lead" in the same sentence.

Back in 1968, both Gene Roddenberry and Stanley Kubrick showed the public a vision of the future that was based on the reality of the time. Because of Right-wing policies and the Left's inability to street-fight, America is more than a bit behind schedule.

As Ol' Ruthless advised JFK in a manner Kirk would have been proud of during the Cuban Missile Crisis, so too must Hillary follow her course no matter how much everyone around her is looking for safe harbor. That means going all the way to the convention and risking screams of back-room deals or being called racists. Anyone who believes Obama is going to get a pass on account of his skin color in the general election is going to be brought back to Earth faster than the Enterprise at warp speed. This is for the Presidency of the US. You don't get the Captain's chair if you aren't willing to go all the way.