We're in 2006. I'm in my fifties. So I remember the 50s and 60s. I remember the Kennedy era. And what I remember is that the US was a country that led. It was forward thinking and surely flawed. But it was nonetheless forward thinking. By holding back on the Bay of Pigs invasion, he slowed the expansionists (IMO), one of which was a young G.H.W Bush. Kennedy wasn't geared to the military, and surely didn't want to be known as a "War President." Let's face it. Georgie's good for business. Big Business. Bush 43 learned from Dad.
Think of what would happen now, given Bush 43's patterns, were there an active push by anyone to invade Cuba, if the equivalent of a Bay of Pigs occurred. He'd plummet right into the affair. Gad, his buddies would make billions in a flash. And the Bushes would make billions. It's about family.
Now, I don't want to carry on, here, but to spill out the way things have changed in the US since Kennedy, and especially since G.H.W. Bush climbed into Washington.