2008-05-18 I knew JFK, says Gore Vidal, and believe me Obama's the better leader

2008-05-18 Times Online Melvyn Bragg \Gore Vidal\Barack Obama\John F. Kennedy\2008 US presidential race\John McCain http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3952774.ece I knew JFK, says Gore Vidal, and believe me Obama's the better leader Gore Vidal says he believes JFK &ldquo;was "one of our worst presidents"; Bobby, his brother, was "a phoney, a little Torquemada"; and their father, Joseph, was "a crook – should have been in jail".  "I never believed in Jack's charisma," Vidal says shortly. JFK, he believes, was "one of our worst presidents"; Bobby, his brother, was "a phoney, a little Torquemada"; and their father, Joseph, was "a crook – should have been in jail".

So much for Camelot. "But Jack had great charm," he adds. "So has Obama. He's better educated than Jack. And he's been a working senator. Jack never went to the office – he wanted the presidency and his father bought it for him."

[Vidal']s views on the man the Democratic candidate will have to beat are even more brutal than his views on Hillary: "You could beat McCain! I've never met anyone in America who has the slightest respect for him. He went to a private school and came bottom of his class. He smashed up his aeroplane and became a prisoner of war, which he is trying to parlay into "war hero".

In his view, McCain is "a goddamned fool. He was on television talking about mortgages, and it was quite clear he does not know what a mortgage is. His head rattles as he walks".   