Senator Ted Kennedy delivered a rousing speech endorsing Senator Barack Obama for President.
Ted Kennedy did more than welcome Barack Obama into the warm embrace of his legendary family. He also consigned the Clintons and their brass-knuckle brand of politics to the past.
“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion,” the Massachusetts senator said Monday in endorsing Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. “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.”
In an eloquent speech laced with stinging subtleties, Kennedy called Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a friend who “has been in the forefront of issues.” But he might as well have called her a “has-been” — a legacy of 1990s-style politics that rewards distortion, cynicism, self-aggrandizement and even failure.
Because that must be what Kennedy believes; there is no other way to interpret the clues tucked between the lines of his address.
Source: ON DEADLINE: Kennedy dumps on Clintons
Senator Edward M. Kennedy implored Americans on Monday “to turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion,” as he placed the aura of the most prominent Democratic family around Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy.
At a rally here at American University, as two generations of Kennedys surrounded Mr. Obama on stage, and Caroline Kennedy and Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, offered their own endorsements, Mr. Kennedy offered a fierce rebuttal to questions that Mr. Obama’s rivals had raised about his experience and readiness for the job.
“He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past,” Mr. Kennedy said, interrupting his speech more than once to embrace Mr. Obama. “He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in without demonizing those who hold a different view.”
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The political blessing from Mr. Kennedy, though, was far from a routine endorsement. Controversial among Republicans, he is nonetheless influential among many Democrats and could be particularly helpful in courting older voters, union members and Latinos. All candidates, including Mrs. Clinton, vigorously pursued his endorsement because of the symbolism and lore it represents.
Mr. Obama said he was humbled by the comparisons drawn with John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy.
“I was too young to remember John Kennedy and I was just a child when Robert Kennedy ran for president,” Mr. Obama, 46, said. “But in the stories I heard growing up, I saw how my grandparents and mother spoke about them and about that period in our nation’s life as a time of great hope and achievement.”
In a 20-minute address, Mr. Kennedy hailed Mr. Obama’s ability to transcend racial divisions. Mr. Kennedy, who associates said had become furious by the tone of the Democratic campaign, including the words and actions of former President Bill Clinton, said Mr. Obama would usher in a new era of politics.
“With Barack Obama, there is a new national leader who has given America a different kind of campaign, not just about himself, but about all of us,” Mr. Kennedy said. “A campaign about the country we will become, if we can rise above the old politics that parses us into separate groups and puts us at odds with one another.”
Source: Kennedy Backs Obama With ‘Old Politics’ Attack
See also:
Video: Ted Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama, “I feel change in the air.”
11:38 pm on May 25th, 2008 1
[...] and friend Ted Kennedy, recently diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Earlier this year, Kennedy gave Obama an eloquent, emphatic endorsement, declaring, “I feel change in the air.… In a personal call to public service and in tribute to the legacy of Senator Edward Kennedy, [...]