What if Lincoln had not been assassinated? What if JFK had not been assassinated? What if Dewey had defeated Truman? What if Gore had won in the Supreme Court over Bush?

How pointless it is to ask "what if's".

Bobby Kennedy was a brilliant man, focused on the common good. He was another Jefferson, another Lincoln, another FDR. I was only a young boy when he died. To this day when I see pictures of him or read his words, I am struck with his depth and intellect. And to this day when I think of him and what could have happened in this world with him as President, I get tears in my eyes and a catch in my throat. I will always be saddened by his death.

Robert Kennedy would almost certainly gone on to become president if he had not been gunned down. This scenario offers an interesting alternative to the escalation of the Viet Nam war and the breathtaking political corruption of the Nixon administration, as uncountable people have already considered.

But RFK had his own peccadilloes, and my guess is that the corporations and the military establishment (not to mention J. Edgar Hoover), which wanted an all-out war, would have used Kennedy's shortcomings to control him, and the Viet Nam war would have escalated exactly as it did.

President Obama, who promised to rein in our sins at Guantanamo, Bagram, Iraq and Afghanistan, turned out to be just another painted courtesan of the military and the corporations. His liberal rhetoric was used to court our votes and whet our appetites for change, but of course there was no change. I'd like to think that Bobby had more substance, but being a Democrat he was probably just another lackey.

It is most likely that none of the subsequent Presidents since 1968 would have been elected. This was one of the most influential moments of the last 50 years.

Plato, Christ, St. Stephen, John Wycliff, Joan of Arc, Thomas More, MLK, Malcom X. I'm wondering if JFK and RFK fit in here as bona fide martyrs.

Q: Were they leading the people to higher ground, despite their obvious flaws?

A: I'm leaning toward 'yes.'

Correction: make that first one Socrates... again I've mixed the student with the teacher.

Tragic loss.....And amazing how only one person tries to render aid, while everyone else stands around.

RFK as president: He would have ended the Vietnam war earlier (don't know if that would have been less of a mess than Saigon in 75), but probably not have helped open up China as Nixon did. We can't really say with any assurance at all. An earlier poster said there would have been no dirty tricks ala Nixon. Really? That's a romanticized view. Bobby Kennedy had Martin Luther King, Jr wiretapped and was passing Marilyn Monroe back and forth with his brother. Get real, people. That said, I liked Bobby Kennedy and think he had more intellect than any of our current leaders---by far. He'd quote Shakespeare, Greek philosophers---it was another world. Now we've got potential candidates who do reality shows and a president who...well that's another topic.

It was both his death and what his death represented-

He was a man for the coommon good- which realy seemed to disappear from politics altogether just about then too.

He was certainly an orator with both a calm style and a substance to his words- trustworthy words- that is no longer found.

I was only 14 but even by then, in those times, hoping that his inevitable election- would bring an end to the war and a better nation and world.

I can't stand to see how he's frequently been portrayed in ficticious plays- as some kind of whiny contentious adversary. He was a calm voice with healing words of sanity.

What if's are nonsense. At that point, it was still very uncertain who would come out of the Democratic Primary. It's really non-sense, what if John Kerry won? Then Obama many not be President today, everything is a moot point.

JFK was the original Obama: continue the American Imperial Mission, but put a likeable face on it. Give us a romantic story ("Camelot") for the warm fuzzies.

I would like to think the world would have been a better place under President Robert Kennedy. The key word is "under". The United States would not have forfeited its worldwide power projection.

Under RFK, the US would have had a sweeter, gentler veneer as it continued to pillage the world. This is one of those dark cases where we might actually be better off without "nice" Bobby Kennedy, since we are now forced to see the naked, brutal face American foreign policy; and feel its rapacious economic system on ourselves, as the world has felt all along.

How soon do you want to know about the Vampires in your house...sooner or later?

do your research, RFK was clearly killed by a conspiracy.
woman with the polka dot dress, anyone?

How would RFK handled Viet Nam?