The curious case of decision making by scion of America's first political family
By Anjan Roy
Robert J Oppenheimer was inspired by it, T.S. Eliot was fascinated by the slokas and now an independent candidate aspiring for the White House revealed he was egged on to put a fight for the top job by the Bhagawat Gita.
Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of the legendary US president, John F. Kennedy, and son of Robert Kennedy, senior, has declared his candidature for the US president as an independent candidate. He had tried to get the Democratic Party nomination for the fight but was stopped to ease the way for incumbent Joe Biden.
Robert Kennedy junior, because of his name, is no political pushover. He is appealing to those voters, and they are not insignificant, who are disillusioned with the two main ageing contestants. At seventy, Bob Kennedy is a sprightly younger person.
To the extent he would siphon votes from either side, Biden and Trump, he will aid the other. He is turning out to be the choice of the younger voters and he is voicing their concerns.
In a freewheeling interaction with The Economist magazine, RFK, as he is popularly known, said that he felt it was his duty to contest for the top job seeing what is happening to his country. The Democratic Party was talking only of war and there was constraint to freedom of expression.
In a duopolistic situation in which the candidates from the two major political parties end up winning the US president's job why he was fighting as an independent candidate. RFK cited to The Economist's Andrew Miller the story of Arjun's refusal to fight his own cousins, uncles and grandfather, Krishna directed Arjun to go on and fight as it was his “duty' to fight.
As a matter of fact, the Kennedys were part and parcel of the Democratic Party and by deciding to fight against the Democratic candidate he was as if fighting his own people. JFK was one of the youngest presidents of the United States at 42, his father had won the Democratic primary and had addressed a press conference after it. He was shot dead in the hotel lobby immediately thereafter when he was proceeding towards his suite.
Ted Kennedy had also contested the US presidential election though he had lost. Today's Kennedys are also with the familiar party grounds and had endorsed Joe Biden.
Robert Kennedy, junior, is a chip of that old block and he shows it every bit. The Kennedys are the closet to the Royal Family of the United States. His office has a stuffed tiger which was presented by the Indonesian autocrat, Suharto, to Robert Kennedy senior, RFK explained to the Economist correspondent.
He had received exotic animals from other leaders to whet his appetite for environment and love of animals. In between, in his teens Kennedy junior was captivated by falconry and owned the birds as pets and for hunting games.
The family has a storied history, though at times wayward and a kind of maverick. Robert Kennedy had become a drug addict, after his father's cruel death. By the time he could emerge out of addiction it was his late twenties.
There was a quick turnaround. He had become a successful campaigner for environment and worked as a environment lawyer.
But then, there are quirky sides as well. Taking his environmentalism to an extreme, Robert Kennedy had opposed vaccination. He had maintained that vaccines had ill effects and should be stopped. He had waged a war against the head of US infectious disease institute, Dr Anthony Fauci, during the pandemic days. So much so, that his family disowned him and had issued a statement denouncing his views on vaccination and the big pharma. But in the end there is a tone of sincerity in whatever he was doing and his belief in the American idol.
Listening to the Economist interview, one feels Robert Kennedy junior has an inherent trait of aristocracy and royalty in the midst of US republicanism.
