Ted Kennedy backs Obama 'for change'

[General Duke]

Kennedy backs Obama 'for change'

 

Edward Kennedy ® is expected to campaign with Mr Obama (L)

Barack Obama's campaign to become the Democratic candidate for US president received a major lift with the coveted backing of Senator Edward Kennedy.

The seal of approval from the patriarch of one of America's most prominent political dynasties could give fresh momentum to Mr Obama, analysts say.

 

The elder statesman made his endorsement public at a rally in Washington with the Illinois senator.

 

Mr Kennedy had reportedly been unhappy with the tone of the Clinton campaign.

 

The last surviving brother of assassinated President John F Kennedy, Senator Kennedy is now expected to campaign with his son, congressman Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, for the man who would be the first US black president.

 

Heated exchange

 

In a prepared statement on Monday, Edward Kennedy praised Mr Obama as a "man with extraordinary gifts of leadership and character", adding: "I feel change in the air."

 

Nobel laureate African-American author Toni Morrison, who once dubbed Bill Clinton the "first black president", also endorsed Mr Obama on Monday.

 

Mr Obama, 46, decisively beat his rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, in South Carolina's party nomination battle on Saturday, after Mrs Clinton won in New Hampshire and Nevada.

 

Analysts say Mr Kennedys' backing appears linked to criticism that ex-President Clinton's campaigning on behalf of his wife in South Carolina may have been overly aggressive.

 

'Misleading statements'

 

Mr Kennedy and Mr Clinton had a heated telephone exchange earlier this month, according to Monday's New York Times.

 

The Massachusetts politician reportedly accused Mr Clinton injecting race into the campaign and complained over what he considered to be misleading statements by Mr Clinton about Mr Obama.

 

The BBC's Vincent Dowd in Washington says Mr Obama has been hoping for some time for the endorsement of the 75- year-old but Mrs Clinton's camp has been lobbying for Mr Kennedy to at least remain neutral.

 

After news of Mr Kennedy's backing for Mr Obama broke, the Clinton camp distributed a statement from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the daughter of Robert F Kennedy.

 

The former Maryland lieutenant governor pledged her support to Mrs Clinton.

 

Democratic sources told Monday's Washington Post that Edward Kennedy had been seriously considering backing Mr Obama since he won Iowa's caucuses on 3 January.

 

Mr Obama beat Mrs Clinton in the weekend's South Carolina primary election by 55% to 27%, with John Edwards third on 18%.

 

Candidate wins nomination by accumulating 2,025 delegates

Most are "pledged delegates", won at primaries or caucuses

Delegates vote at summer convention to confirm nominee

 

In the tally of primary and caucus contests so far, the two Democratic front-runners have each won a brace - Mr Obama at Iowa and South Carolina, while Mrs Clinton triumphed in New Hampshire and Nevada.

 

Analysts say the contest could extend beyond Super Tuesday next week, when two dozen states hold primary elections.

[General Duke]

Kennedy Calls Obama ‘New Generation of Leadership’

 

Barack Obama with Edward Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy at a rally at American University in Washington D.C. on Monday.

 

By JEFF ZELENY

Published: January 28, 2008

WASHINGTON — Senator Edward M. Kennedy implored Americans on Monday to “reject the counsels of doubt and calculation,” as he extended his endorsement and placed the aura of his family’s name around the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama.

time again for a new generation of leadership,” Mr. Kennedy said, speaking over a crowd of cheering supporters here at American University. “It is time now for Barack Obama.”

 

Mr. Kennedy promised to campaign aggressively for Mr. Obama, a strong endorsement from a veteran Democratic leader that might influence some in the party’s liberal Democratic base torn between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

 

“We, too, want a president 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,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I’ve found that candidate and I think you have, too.”

 

He praised Mrs. Clinton and the third Democratic candidate, John Edwards. “They are my friends, they are my friends, they have been my colleagues in the Senate,” Mr. Kennedy said. “Whoever is our nominee will have my enthusiastic support.”

 

But he said one candidate had risen above the rest. “He understands what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called the fierce urgency of now,” said Mr. Kennedy, who was joined on stage by his niece, Caroline Kennedy, and her cousin, Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, who are also backing Mr. Obama.

 

“I stand here today with a great deal of humility,” Mr. Obama said after Mr. Kennedy’s endorsement. “I know what your support means. I know the cherished place the Kennedy family holds in the hearts of the American people.”

 

In a 20-minute address, Mr. Kennedy spoke effusively of Mr. Obama, who has served with him in the Senate for three years. He hailed his ability to transcend race in America, saying Mr. Obama’s candidacy could set the nation on a new course of reconciliation.

 

Mr. Kennedy, who associates said had grown furious at the tone of the presidential campaign, including the words and actions of former President Bill Clinton, said Mr. Obama would usher in a new era of politics. His speech was filled with references to his distaste for the bitterness and lack of bipartisanship that has infiltrated Washington.

 

“He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past,” Mr. Kennedy said. “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.”

 

Mr. Kennedy, whose endorsement was aggressively pursued by all the Democratic candidates, praised Mr. Obama’s ability to motivate a new generation of leaders. Not since his brothers, Mr. Kennedy said, has he seen a politician possess the ability to inspire.

 

“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.”

 

Mr. Kennedy is expected to head west with Mr. Obama, followed by appearances in the Northeast. Strategists see him bolstering Mr. Obama’s credibility and helping him firm up support from unions and Hispanics, as well as the party base.

 

Mrs. Clinton and her allies had pressed Senator Kennedy to remain neutral in the Democratic race, as he traditionally has done. Instead, the endorsement gave Mr. Obama the Kennedy charisma and connections before the 22-state showdown for the Democratic nomination on Feb. 5.

 

Mr. Kennedy, who called Mr. Clinton Sunday to tell him of his decision, remained uncertain of his decision as late as the middle of last week. But, according to allies, when he learned that his niece’s endorsement would appear as an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times on Sunday, he decided to bolster that with his own public embrace of the campaign at a joint rally at American University.

 

Trying to dilute the impact of the twin endorsements by the brother and daughter of the late president, the Clinton campaign on Sunday issued a statement of support from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former lieutenant governor in Maryland and a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.

 

“I respect Caroline and Teddy’s decision, but I have made a different choice,” Ms. Townsend said in her statement, adding: “At this moment when so much is at stake at home and overseas, I urge our fellow Americans to support Hillary Clinton. That is why my brother Bobby, my sister Kerry, and I are supporting Hillary Clinton.”

 

But two years ago, Ms. Townsend’s mother, Ethel Kennedy, referred to Mr. Obama in an interview as “our next president” and likened him to her late husband.

 

Brian Knowlton contributed reporting from Washington and Carl Hulse from Birmingham, Ala.

[General Duke]

Barack Obama with Edward Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and Patrick Kennedy at a rally at American University in Washington D.C. on Monday.