Kennedys endorse Obama
WASHINGTON -- The keepers of the Camelot legacy - the family of President Kennedy, who inspired a generation of Americans with his soaring rhetoric before his assassination in 1963 - embraced Sen. Barack Obama for president today.
In a rousing speech at American University, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) called Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, a leader "who can lift our spirits ... who has the power to truly inspire and make America great again."
With Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, President Kennedy's daughter, and his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I., at his side and with other members of the Kennedy family in the audience, Ted Kennedy rhetorically placed the mantle of his brother's legacy on Obama's shoulders.
Ted Kennedy praised the other two Democratic candidates - former Sen. John Edwards and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton - and vowed to support whichever one wins the Democratic nomination.
"Let there be no doubt, we are all committed to seeing a Democratic president in 2008," said the 73-year-old Kennedy. "But I believe there is one candidate who has extraordinary gifts of leadership and character matched to extraordinary demands of this moment in history."
Borrowing a line that Clinton has used to argue that she is more experienced, Kennedy said of Obama, "I know that he's ready to be president on Day One."
To an exuberant rally of students at American University, Kennedy recalled the promise of his brother's leadership in the face of elders such as President Truman, who argued against turning the White House over to a new generation.
"Have the courage to choose change," Kennedy thundered. "It is time now for a new generation of leadership. It is time for Barack Obama."
Obama called Kennedy "the lion of the Senate" and thanked him for his endorsement. "I know the cherished place the Kennedy family holds in the hearts of the American people," he said. "His endorsement is more than just politics to me, it's personal."
Though too young to remember JFK - he was born in 1961, the year Kennedy was sworn in - Obama said he took inspiration from the legacy of Kennedy and his brother, Sen. Robert Kennedy (D-N.Y.), who was assassinated while seeking the presidency in 1968.
"They inspired my own sense of what is possible," he said.
