Why do some people compare Obama with JFK? Obama is a liberal and JFK was a Democrat conservative...

I believe most people compare them because not so much their views but because of age and they both have/had a charming personality.

They both have/had the ability to appeal to people’s emotions and logic. They do/did have the ability to use thier words to give hope and a kind of psychological security. Plus, and most important, they provide a sense of trust in the future and in themselves. They appear to be “in charge” as good leaders do. They do not appear to be “in a panic” or out of their league or out of control or foolish or ignorant or selfish.

They made both their campaigns about looking to the future with hope, rather than looking at the past with anger or looking at the present with fear.

I think its because they’re both full of life. People can really sense that in a leader and find it inspiring that there can be real people in politics.

They have both tapped into what I would call a collective unconsciousness; communicating what everyone else wanted to say but couldn’t. Obama, like JFK, speaks to a large percent of the population who felt like no one was speaking to them before. They speak of a promise for the future, challenging the country to ask more of themselves, and not merely of their leaders.

At the time, JFK was considered a liberal. As times have changed, he owuld be considered more conservative by todays standards. He cut taxes and of course revenues rose to to increased investment, and that is considered a conservative principle today.
He was very inspiring as a speaker, and I believe that is the comparison that people make.