Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Ted's reference to JFK
Below is the conclusion to a NY Times article about Obama's Kennedy endorsement yesterday:
Mr. Kennedy praised Mr. Edwards and Mrs. Clinton as friends, but he presented his endorsement of Mr. Obama in a deeply personal way. Seldom does he mention his brothers, both of whom were assassinated, in public appearances. But he made repeated references to them.
“There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier,” Mr. Kennedy said. “He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party,” a reference to Harry S. 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,” he added, “with Barack Obama.”
Clearly this is not a statement Kennedy made without a lot of thought. Sometimes I have to wonder how much stoke to put into some of these endorsements, but the fact that he would make such a comparison to JFK is pretty powerful. Could be a more beneficial endorsement for Obama than I first thought.
What do you think?
Mr. Kennedy praised Mr. Edwards and Mrs. Clinton as friends, but he presented his endorsement of Mr. Obama in a deeply personal way. Seldom does he mention his brothers, both of whom were assassinated, in public appearances. But he made repeated references to them.
“There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier,” Mr. Kennedy said. “He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party,” a reference to Harry S. 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,” he added, “with Barack Obama.”
Clearly this is not a statement Kennedy made without a lot of thought. Sometimes I have to wonder how much stoke to put into some of these endorsements, but the fact that he would make such a comparison to JFK is pretty powerful. Could be a more beneficial endorsement for Obama than I first thought.
What do you think?
# posted by Amy Adkerson @ 12:28 PM 
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I think this will make a difference for die-hard and "old-school" democrats. As I heard someone on the news say, "The Kennedys are Democratic royalty." We all seem to idealize JFK's legacy and look past his scandals, so for Caroline and Ted to both compare Barack to JFK....I think it is meaningful and significant.
I completely agree with Julie. The Kennedy's are known as democratic royalty and comparing Barack to JFK is a big deal. I think this endorsement for Obama is big and individuals who were and and still are big Kennedy supporters (some) will now at least consider Obama if they haven't been already. I think this endorsement will definitely have somewhat of a positive impact and may even cause some Hillary supporters to sway to the Obama side of the race.
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