Caroline Kennedy Endorces Obama
This is a home run for Obama. Caroline Kennedy isn’t especially political and her father reminds most Democrats why they’re Democrats—plus she’s a woman, to boot.
NYT: OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.
Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.
Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.
I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.
Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
FROM HUFFINGTON POST
‘Liberal Lion’ Ted Kennedy To Back Obama
Senator Edward M. Kennedy will endorse Barack Obama for president tomorrow, breaking his year-long neutrality to send a powerful signal of where the legendary Massachusetts Democrat sees the party going — and who he thinks is best to lead it.
Kennedy confidantes told the Globe today that the Bay State’s senior senator will appear with Obama and Kennedy’s niece, Caroline Kennedy, at a morning rally at American University in Washington tomorrow to announce his support.
That will be a potentially significant boost for Obama as he heads into a series of critical primaries on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.
Kennedy believes Obama can “transcend race” and bring unity to the country, a Kennedy associate told the Globe. Kennedy was also impressed by Obama’s deep involvement last year in the bipartisan effort to craft legislation on immigration reform, a politically touchy subject the other presidential candidates avoided, the associate said.
The coveted endorsement is a huge blow to New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who is both a senatorial colleague and a friend of the Kennedy family. In a campaign where Clinton has trumpeted her experience over Obama’s call for hope and change, the endorsement by one of the most experienced and respected Democrats in the Senate is a particularly dramatic coup for Obama.
The scoop was first reported by Time’s Mark Halperin and confirmed by CNN. Suzanne Malveaux reported:
“This is really big and very big for Barack Obama. Senator Ted kennedy…is a giant in the party. A Clinton campaign source told me the Clinton campaign is in fact expecting it. Already a senior aide from the Clinton campaign reacting on the record to the news that they expect. ‘They have been friends,’ Senator Clinton and Kennedy, ‘for a long time and Senator Clinton has a lot of respect for Senator Kennedy.’ … This is really kind of extraordinary when you think about the relationship between the Clintons and the Kennedys, the kind of personal relationship that the two have. Obviously this is a very big win for Barack Obama.”
Kennedy is one of two potential superstar Dem endorsements — the other being Al Gore. Read Halperin’s report here. Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK, endorsed Obama in a Sunday New York Times op-ed titled “A President Like My Father.”
Ben Smith reported earlier this week that the Clintons were concerned about Kennedy’s endorsement and were making a full-court press:
I do know, however, that Hillaryland is worried: Two sources say she’s directed a flood of calls the senator’s way, with everyone from union leaders to his Massachusetts constituents scrambling to stop what Clinton’s camp is worried could be an endorsement of Obama.
For younger Democrats, Caroline’s endorcement carries more weight than Ted’s (he comes with a lot of baggage).
But for older Democrats, Hillary’s base, Ted endorcement will set-off a lot of second guessing.
Left
Obama had the support of the young, I think that is why Senator Kennedy helps so much because it targets the one group Obama has done poorly 65 and older traditional liberal Democrats.
This hurts Hillary!
Question!
Are they endorsing Obama as much as saying they don’t want Bill Clinton back in the White House even as “First Gentleman?”
I think Bill Clinton has done a lot of damage to Hillary’s campaign. I think his ego has overridden good judgment. The next few primaries may tell whether that is the case or not.