For all the "Camelot" imagery covering the bumbling and the nature of Kennedy's policies, by 1963 there was concern among Democrats that he was in trouble for re-election.

But the media did not "focus more on the stuff that matters". Ayn Rand did, in for example her 1962 Ford Hall lecture "The Fascist New Frontier", reprinted in the anthology The Ayn Rand Column. It goes to the essence of Kennedy's political philosophy the way no one else did or could.

For the whole story of JFK, separating the imagary from the reality, read Victory Lasky's J.F.K. The Man and the Myth, published in 1963 half way through his term but withdrawn by the publisher after the assassination later that year. It is not philosophical, but describes the corruption, dishonesty, power seeking and bumbling by Kennedy and the clan that the public did not hear about in the 1960s and still doesn't know. It is substantive and was written before the more personal filth about him came out (and which is still not widely known or acknowledged).

I liked Kennedy, too, but he was not effective.

In fact, he made a lot of mistakes.

Yes, he was bright and charismatic and those are certainly traits required to run for president.

But I was always wondering why there was a deafening silence regarding his womanizing? Remember the throaty "Happy Birthday Mr President" sang by Monroe? I always shudder when I hear it. Why was it acceptable then?

Since I am a past Federal Lobbyist, I rather know what you are talking about. But, hey, if we are going to get dirty, how about our darling Lyndon Baines Johnson? My mother was his biggest fan! Duh! She was an adorable sweet lady. No one has ever called me adorable!