On the Radar
Kennedy family backs Obama over Clinton
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by Associated Press
Monday, January 28, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two
generations of Kennedys — the Democratic Party’s best known political
family — endorsed Barack Obama for president on Monday, with Sen.
Edward M. Kennedy calling him a “man with extraordinary gifts of
leadership and character,” a worthy heir to his assassinated brother. “I
feel change in the air. What about you?” Kennedy said in a speech
salted with scarcely veiled criticism of Obama’s chief rival for the
nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as her husband, the
former president. Kennedy’s endorsement was ardently sought by
all three of the remaining presidential contenders, and he delivered it
at a pivotal time in the race. A liberal lion in his fifth decade in
the Senate, the Massachusetts senator is in a position to help Obama
court Hispanic voters as well as rank-and-file members of labor unions,
two key elements of the Democratic Party. He is expected to
campaign actively for Obama in the eight days leading up to next
Tuesday’s delegate-rich primaries and caucuses across 24 states,
beginning later this week in Arizona, New Mexico and California. The
senator made his comments at a crowded campaign rally at American
University that took on the appearances of a Kennedy family embrace of
Obama. He was introduced by Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the
late president, who said Obama “offers that same sense of hope and
inspiration” as did her father. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island,
son of the senator, also offered his support. In is own remarks, Kennedy sought one by one to rebut many of the arguments leveled by Obama’s critics. “From
the beginning, he opposed the war in Iraq. And let no one deny that
truth,” he said, an obvious reference to former President Clinton’s
statement that Obama’s early anti-war stance was a “fairy tale.” “With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. “With
Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against
race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and
straight against gay,” Kennedy said. The Massachusetts senator
had remained on the sideline of the presidential campaign for months,
saying he was friends with Obama, Clinton and former North Carolina
Sen. John Edwards, as well and several Senate colleagues who are no
longer in the race. Lately, according to several associates,
Kennedy became angered with what he viewed as racially divisive
comments by Bill Clinton. Nearly two weeks ago, he played a personal
key role in arranging a brief truce between the Clintons and Obama on
the issue. Kennedy refers only sparingly to his assassinated
brothers, John and Robert, in his public remarks, and his endorsement
of Obama was cast in terms that aides said was unusually personal. “There
was another time, when another young candidate was running for
president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced
criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely
respected in the party,” Kennedy said, referring to Harry Truman. “And John Kennedy replied, ‘The world is changing. The old ways will not do. … It is time for a new generation of leadership. “So it is with Barack Obama,” he added. Kennedy
began his remarks by paying tribute to Sen. Clinton’s advocacy for
issues such as health care and women’s rights. “Whoever is our nominee
will have my enthusiastic support,” he said. But he quickly
pivoted to a strong endorsement of Obama, whom he said “has
extraordinary gifts of leadership and character, matched to the
extraordinary demands of this moment in history.” “I believe that a wave of change is moving across America,” Kennedy said. Also
Monday, Obama picked up the endorsement of author Toni Morrison, who
once labeled Bill Clinton as the “first black president.” Morrison said
she has has admired Obama rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for years
because of her knowledge and mastery of politics, but cited Obama’s
“creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom.” Morrison
said her endorsement had little to do with Obama’s race — he is the son
of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas — but
rather his personal gifts. Writing with the touch of a poet in a
letter to the Illinois senator, Morrison explained why she chose Obama
over Clinton for her first public presidential endorsement. “In
addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you
exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or
gender and something I don’t see in other candidates,” Morrison wrote.
“That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance
equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and
old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning
is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each
ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that
feeds and surrounds it.
