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That Old Kennedy MagicTed Kennedy's roof-raising endorsement of Barack Obama.

By Melinda Henneberger
Posted Monday, Jan. 28, 2008, at 6:17 PM ET
Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy. Click image to expand.

Sen. Ted Kennedy did not just endorse Barack Obama today; he passed him his brother John's baton, 45 years on, and bet the whole darn Kennedy Compound that this man is The One. Oh, and he performed a double vivisection on the Clintons as 6,000 cheered.

The biggest applause line of the day came when Kennedy said that Obama fights for what he believes in, "without demonizing those who hold a different view." And unlike some he could name, what Obama is selling is "not just about himself, but about all of us," Kennedy thundered.

He did not make his decision to back Obama instead of Hillary Clinton seem like a very tough call, given that the choice as he described it was between fear and hope, the past and the future, meanness and possibility.

He not so obliquely slapped down Bill Clinton's description of Obama's record on Iraq as "a fairy tale," saying, "We know his true record. When so many others were silent or simply went along, he opposed the war in Iraq. Let no one deny that truth!"

And he spit on the attempt to paint Obama as a naive kid peddling false hope: "What counts in our leadership is not the length of years in Washington. …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."

He urged voters not to listen to former President Clinton's naysaying, likening it to Harry Truman's suggestion that JFK was too green to be president back in the day. And only when he duly noted that "whoever is the nominee will have my support and will have yours, too" did the general roar of the crowd subside for a second. The middle-school teacher seated behind me in the bleachers muttered, "That's your opinion."

When Obama's turn came, he couldn't seem to help turning one of Hillary's recent comments back on her: "This is more than just politics for me; this is personal." But it didn't matter what he said at that point.

"OK, I'm sold!" said Allison Dunatchik, a 19-year-old student from Portland, Ore., who was carrying a textbook, Sex-Based Discrimination. Her friend Catherine Taegel, from Fairfax, Va., said Kennedy had closed the deal for her, too: "In '04, I didn't even think change was possible." Diann Heine, a longtime aide to Hubert Humphrey, left American University's Bender Arena building crying. "I never thought I'd feel this way again," she said. "It's a miracle."

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Melinda Henneberger is a Slate contributor and the author of If They Only Listened to Us: What Women Voters Want Politicians To Hear.
Photograph of Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
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Remarks from the Fray:

Let's all be honest. Teddy Kennedy's endorsement is probably an albatross for Barack Obama. Most Americans hold Teddy in the lowest regard. We take one look at his red cheeks, red nose and slurred public speech and know this guy hasn't been sober a day since Chappaquiddick.

If I were Hillary Clinton, I would be doing back flips right now. Teddy will drag Obama down into obscurity, just as he did to Kerry.

I don't care how many elitist ivy-leaguers tell us that America is ready for a black president, I live in the South. I can guarantee you that this America will not elect a black president during this lifetime.

If Barack were to win the nomination, the Republican smear machine wouldn't have to "swift-boat" Barack. They would just have to post an anonymous video of the presidential limo pulling up to the White House playing NWA rap music while Spike Lee films "Jungle Fever 2" on the West Lawn. One view of such imagery slyly inserted into the American psyche and you can guarantee a Republican win.

Nope, no way in hell this nation can take another republican administration. The only candidate that can beat the Republican scum machine is Hillary.

--nolefan

(To reply, click here.)

As an ardent Democrat and Hil supporter, I want to know if anyone else wonders at the whole JFK thing?

I'm only 27, so perhaps it's generational. But to me, JFK seemed to be a handsome guy with a good speechwriter who was a mediocre-to-bad president. His judicial appointments alone were a generational setback to civil rights in the South. He got us into Vietnam. Was bookended by presidents of far greater accomplishment - Truman, Eisenhower, LBJ. Sure, he had nice rhetoric... but it wasn't rhetoric that got us to the moon. [It was] the simple concentration of billions of dollars of research for our brilliant scientists and engineers.

I dare say, I think Obama would make a better president than JFK - he exhibits better judgment. That said, Hil's my girl! May the best person win!

--Arashi

(To reply, click here.)

We want change and a new system, Go Forward America! The system is broke, the government don't work, D.C. sucks and old time politics are just that OLD. Forward March!

What?! What the hell happened? What am I doing back in the 60's with one of the oldest established political family dynasties ever? The family that lead a nation to great change, after Marion Anderson sang at the Lincoln Memorial and Eleanor Roosevelt quit the DAR over her. After Eisenhower desegregated the troops and Emmit Till was murdered. After MLK put his body in the way of racism to lead that march on behalf of a dream that JFK and RFK both shared too briefly...[a dream] that Johnson saw through and Ted Kennedy saw from the bottom of a bottle while Mary Jo Kopechne saw nothing ever again...That dynasty?...[The one] sitting in Congress and the Senate since Chappaquiddick and living in and around the evil Beltway ever since too?

So what change are we talking about? It ain't the 60's folks. The overly educated, upper middle class white liberals who want a 60's do over with Obama, and all of you doe in the headlights young women under 30 who have not yet had to fight your way past charm in a career with a family, have just pushed me further Right.

After South Carolina, Hillary and her husband have just about made it unconscionable for me to vote for her, but I don't trust Obama. Have any of you listened to him outside of a 30 minute oration? Granted the man is one of the most gifted public speakers I've ever heard and he is inspiring, but did anyone catch him backpedaling all on his own, without a Clinton in sight, over the Reagan bit, and Rezko on This Week with George Stephanopoulos? Or, have you considered his 99 'present' votes on behalf of women's rights in the Chicago senate?

I really want to understand his appeal. I have read his website issues over and over. I've listened to the sound of his beautiful voice but I don't hear him. As a matter of fact I don't hear anything different, just honey spun rhetoric. Are we so swayed by celebrity that another chummy, smiling, friendly idea of a president is enough? I bet he would be fun to have a chilled flute of proseco with, but what of the memo handlers—all the folk who hand him the papers and memos he needs to be president—who are they? Will they take the fall when he suddenly 'can't recall' ?

I would have had more respect for Obama and a different opinion of him, had he himself had a little faith and shown some hope, and asked the Kennedy Dynasty to hold off their endorsements till after Super Tuesday. That would have shown class. That would have been the competitor allowing his opponent to catch a breath before going into the fray. I'm not saying Hillary Clinton would've done the same, but had he, I would have believed in his grand illusions of change. As it is, with the anointed blessing from Camelot, a fairytale land, Barak Obama only proved that he's as phony as the rest of them and damn good at Old School Politics. Guess I have to check out Edwards again...

--smartykat

(To reply, click here.)

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