John Lennon & Barack Obama

On Sunday Irene and I were discussing something or another and the life and work of John Lennon came up. I remembered that Lennon was shot in 1980, but the rest of the details of his death eluded me. For the record, Lennon was shot on December 8 by Mark David Chapman. For the conspiracy buffs, besides being known by all three of his names, Chapman was carrying a paperback copy of The Catcher and the Rye.

More seriously, thinking of Lennon's assassination brought to mind the cavalcade of high profile deaths that occurred in the 1960's:

John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963.
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968.
Robert F. Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan on June 6, 1968.

Not to mention lesser known political figures:

Malcolm X was shot and killed by a number of members of the Nation of Islam on February 21, 1965.
Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, members of the Black Panther Party, were killed on December 4, 1969, apparently by FBI Officers.

I've often wondered what effect a series of killing like this has on the national consciousness. There must be a slew of books and dissertations on the subject; suffice it to say, if you couple the death of many young, loved political figures (albeit of significantly different views) with the disillusionment that followed Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War, disgust and/or apathy would be obvious possible effects.

And now, we have a young political candidate who has people more excited--especially young people--then they have been for some time, if at all. Has the nation sufficiently recovered from the psychological scars it received from the deaths above to believe in another young, promising politician? Is it simply that a new generation has come of age who doesn't suffer from the memories of turbulent 60's? Will Barack end up as another politician who initially garnered excitement and support but ultimately failed to transform that support into electoral success and so was forgotten by history?

Big questions, but this post is too long already.