“I’ve never seen the media as much entranced by a candidate as they were in my very first campaign, in 1960, when they were for JFK,” Robert Novak told Bill O’Reilly in June, weeks before his retirement after being diagnosed with brain tumor.
“But I’m telling you right now, the enchantment with Obama beats the JFK syndrome,” he said. “It is just such a feel-good atmosphere of my colleagues, my senior colleagues, people I’ve known for years. And I get it from some of the young people, too. They just feel this is such a wonderful thing, in the first place to have an African-American candidate, nominee, but also one that makes them feel so wonderful.”
John Fund, Novak’s first hire as a young reporter, comments:
Bob Novak rarely felt “wonderful” about any candidate, acknowledging to me at a dinner just last month that the only president he ever covered who proved to be a success was Ronald Reagan. “Put not your faith in princes,” he told me, paraphrasing the Bible. “Principles and ideas do matter a lot in the world, but politicians usually just use them on the way to disappointing you.”
It’s in WSJ.com’s Political Diary for last Tuesday, 8/5.
Blithe Spirit 
Reagan was a giant. Wonder what he’d do in the face of the Russians trying to crush Georgia?
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I couldn’t tell from Novak’s Bill O’Reilly quote of this past June whether Novak likewise was feeling some of the Obama enchantment or just musing about it. Although I was often at odds with what Novak wrote in his commentaries, I will miss his voice on the Republican side of the aisle. Fortunately there are a number of young and upcoming Republicans whose writings are making a difference. I do wish Robert Novak well as he prepares to leave this earth at a time yet not determined. May his deep faith in God be a blessing to him.
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