Powerful endorsment for Obama

[FOOOOTY]

Comparisions to JFK from his own daughter.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

A President Like My Father

By CAROLINE KENNEDY
Published: January 27, 2008

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.

Now every man and their dog are endorsing a candidate at the moment, but these are pretty moving words from the daughter of one of America's greatest heroes.

Im sure Obama is pleased, but in the end will an endorsement like this translate into votes?,

If i heard about it on SEN an all sports Australian radio station, you'd think it would get significant media coverage in the US?

 

[usalion]

Comparisions to JFK from his own daughter.


Now every man and their dog are endorsing a candidate at the moment, but these are pretty moving words from the daughter of one of America's greatest heroes.

Im sure Obama is pleased, but in the end will an endorsement like this translate into votes?,

If i heard about it on SEN an all sports Australian radio station, you'd think it would get significant media coverage in the US?

Getting play here- but the patriarch of the family, ol' Teddy, is remaining on the sidelines for now. Expect him to come out for Obama just before the 5 February primaries.

 

[Hawkamania!]

This is a very positive endorsement for Obama, not just from a Kennedy, but a female Kennedy. This endorsement may sway a few more votes for Obama ahead of Super Tuesday. Her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Hillary last November.

Clinton owns NY, but if Obama makes a serious dent into NJ and breaks even in California, the other states become more important in the grand scheme of delegates. The article was in the NY Times, so hopefully that swings a few more NY delegates Obama's way.

All he needs now is Maria Shriver to endorse him and he may get ahead of Hillary in California.

There is still over a week before Super Tuesday and a week is a long time in politics.

On a side note, so far we had Hillary's crocodile tears the day before the NH primary and she "opened up" about her ordeal during the Lewinsky scandal the day before Nevada. What tactic do you think she will use on the day before Super Tuesday to sway voters?

 

[Elle]

Her cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Hillary last November.

RFK Jr's endorsement was a bit surprising and disappointing, quite inconsistent with his policy positions.

However, I think he may want her Senate seat, so in that regard it makes sense.

 

[FOOOOTY]

Getting play here- but the patriarch of the family, ol' Teddy, is remaining on the sidelines for now. Expect him to come out for Obama just before the 5 February primaries.

You are correct sir. He will endorse him tomorrow.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/ted_kennedy_end.html

Ted Kennedy endorsing Obama

WASHINGTON -- 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 America of Jack and Bobby Kennedy touched all of us. Through all of these decades, the one who kept that flame alive was Ted Kennedy,'' said Representative Bill Delahunt, A Quincy Democrat who is also backing Obama. ``So having him pass on the torch [to Obama] is of incredible significance. It's historic.''

Obama's landslide win in South Carolina yesterday gives Obama and Clinton two wins each in the primary campaign, and puts the two senators in a fierce battle for delegates on Feb. 5, when 22 states will hold Democratic primaries and caucuses.

While polls show Clinton ahead in some large states, including her home state of New York and delegate-rich California, the Kennedy endorsement gives Obama a stamp of approval among key constituencies in the Democratic party that could make Super Tuesday more competitive.
Kennedy plans to campaign actively for Obama, an aide said, and will focus particularly among Hispanics and labor union members, who are important voting blocks in several Feb. 5 states, including California, New York, New Jersey, Arizona and New Mexico.

The Massachusetts senator was key in helping his colleague, Senator John F. Kerry, score a comeback win in Iowa in 2004, sending Kerry on a path to the nomination. Kennedy campaigned on his own and released several senior members of his staff to work for Kerry.

 

[KissStephanie]

Getting play here- but the patriarch of the family, ol' Teddy, is remaining on the sidelines for now. Expect him to come out for Obama just before the 5 February primaries.

It seems that unless there are any late changes that Ted Kennedy will endorse Obama tomorrow. That splits the Kennedy family up quite a bit considering that environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr., human rights activist Kerry Kennedy, filmmaker Rory Kennedy and former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Kathleen Kennedy have backed Hillary Clinton.

RFK Jr's endorsement was a bit surprising and disappointing, quite inconsistent with his policy positions.

Why is that disappointing, and why does it matter too much anyway? Although endorsements can't hurt, I don't know much it can be measured how much they can help, beyond campaigning support. It was RFK Jnr's opinion as an environmentalist that Hillary Clinton's record and policy detail is the closest to his, and from what I have seen, that is accurate, as it with Al Gore's too. Where exactly do you disagree on that?

 

[FOOOOTY]

Did Bill cost Hillary Ted Kennedy's endorsement or at least nuetrality?

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/01/27/sen_kennedy_to_endorse_obama.html

Kennedy's decision came after weeks of mounting frustration with the Clintons over their campaign tactics, particularly those with racial overtones. Kennedy expressed those frustrations directly to the campaign but was reportedly infuriated when Bill Clinton yesterday compared Obama's South Carolina victory to Jesse Jackson winning the state's much smaller caucuses in 1984 and 1988[

 

[meltiger]

^^ Bill's certainly playing the race card there, even though the machine claims it isn't doing that.

 

[Palmer Stoat]

Im sure Obama is pleased, but in the end will an endorsement like this translate into votes?

I'm a bit sceptical about endorsements generally. I'm just not sure they sway many votes. But in this case, it might have an impact. The cumulative effect of Ted Kennedy and John Kerry (Massachusetts' two senators), Caroline Kennedy, and Deval Patrick (Mass. governor) all endorsing Obama might actually mean something in Massachusetts, where Obama trails badly. Nationally, I doubt it's that meaningful.

Of course, Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and Patrick are all superdelegates, which helps a little.

 

[Dippers Donuts]

If he can get over the Clintons' race campaign then Obama will be president, particularly if he comes up against McCain.

I would love to see it. My faith and optimism in Australia was restored when Rudd was elected; I would be even more optimistic for the future of humanity if Obama was elected pres.

 

[Hawkamania!]

If he can get over the Clintons' race campaign then Obama will be president, particularly if he comes up against McCain.

I would love to see it. My faith and optimism in Australia was restored when Rudd was elected; I would be even more optimistic for the future of humanity if Obama was elected pres.

Obama fairs better than Clinton against McCain, but it will be a tight race.

My faith and optimism in Australian politics hasn't changed since Hawke. It's still crappy and without real benefit for the majority of Australians. Krudd will be no better or worse than the Rodent.

 

[Qsaint]

Getting play here- but the patriarch of the family, ol' Teddy, is remaining on the sidelines for now. Expect him to come out for Obama just before the 5 February primaries.

Thats got to help in the NE

 

[Qsaint]

It was RFK Jnr's opinion as an environmentalist that Hillary Clinton's record and policy detail is the closest to his, and from what I have seen, that is accurate, as it with Al Gore's too. Where exactly do you disagree on that?

No one matters except old teddie

 

[FOOOOTY]

No one matters except old teddie

Obama picked up a bigger one, let's see Bill take this guy on.

Hulk Hogan endorsed Obama today
By PoliJAM | January 30, 2008

Obama received another major endorsement today when Hulk Hogan told Jimmy Kimmel on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ that he believed Barack Obama was the ‘choice,’ and that he hoped Barack Obama would win the presidency. major may be a little bit of an overstatement, but the Hulkster’s backing may have serious consequences in the election race.

With Hogan’s endorsement, the Obama campaign may now become targets of the Huckabee campaign who has been endorsed by wrestler Ric Flair.

Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan have had many wrestling feuds over the years, and now it seems their feud has left the fake wrestling world and entered the political world. Former Minnesota Governor Jesse ‘the Body’ Ventura may have to be brought in to referee this one.

Stuff the ref. Cage match time.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

Obama picked up a bigger one, let's see Bill take this guy on.



Stuff the ref. Cage match time.

US Politics pwns.

Hogan takes Flair down, and finishes him with a atomic leg drop- Ventura goes to award him the title belt, but hits him with it and KOs the Hulk whilst he is distracted shaking hands and handing out multivitamins to young Hulkmania fans.

Ventura parades with the belt to the boos of the fans whilst the Clintons applaud enthusiastically. Obama is seen off stage talking quickly into a mobile phone.

Suddenly, the stadium doors are blown inward in a shattering explosion. Shrouded in smoke, is an enormous, silent figure. He rips off his business suit, revealing astonishingly well oiled pecs- its the Governator! He's turned face and done a deal with Obama!!! The crowd goes nuts as Arnie walks through the stadium and climbs into the ring to confront Ventura....

 

[FOOOOTY]

US Politics pwns.

Hogan takes Flair down, and finishes him with a atomic leg drop- Ventura goes to award him the title belt, but hits him with it and KOs the Hulk whilst he is distracted shaking hands and handing out multivitamins to young Hulkmania fans.

Ventura parades with the belt to the boos of the fans whilst the Clintons applaud enthusiastically. Obama is seen off stage talking quickly into a mobile phone.

Suddenly, the stadium doors are blown inward in a shattering explosion. Shrouded in smoke, is an enormous, silent figure. He rips off his business suit, revealing astonishingly well oiled pecs- its the Governator! He's turned face and done a deal with Obama!!! The crowd goes nuts as Arnie walks through the stadium and climbs into the ring to confront Ventura....

Hahaha Gold

 

[Hawkamania!]

Why Caroline Backed Obama

For all the attention paid to Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama, the more crucial seal of approval may be the one affixed by Caroline Kennedy. An Obama TV ad that features her is already being widely aired in Super Tuesday states. If Caroline helps Obama cut into Hillary Clinton's base among women over 40 (especially Roman Catholic women), Obama aides believe her involvement could prove important to the outcome.

The behind-the-scenes story of Caroline's journey into the Obama camp features her three teenage children, her uncle—and a long-forgotten controversy from the 1960 presidential campaign. The complicated tale involves an angry Sen. John F. Kennedy, Vice President Richard Nixon's "truth squad," baseball great Jackie Robinson and a group of stranded African students trying to book passage to the United States—including Barack Obama Sr., father of the presidential candidate.

I've known Caroline since the 1970s, and with the help of a knowledgeable source have pieced together how she moved from neutral observer of the campaign to impassioned Obama supporter, shedding tears at American University on Monday as she witnessed a moment that, she believed, deeply fulfilled the ideals of her family.

"It was my father's spirit, living on in a meaningful, profound way," she said afterward.

For decades Caroline has dutifully campaigned for the Democratic nominee for president. But except for 1980, when her uncle Ted ran unsuccessfully for president, she has never involved herself in a party primary contest. She did not expect that 2008 would prove to be different, though her long relationship with the Clintons and her admiration of them left her open to possibly backing Hillary. During the Clinton administration she hosted a dinner party for the president and First Lady on Martha's Vineyard, went sailing with them and her family and stayed in irregular but friendly contact.

Like all Democrats, Caroline and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg, had admired Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention. But she didn't consider his possible presidential campaign seriously until Christmas 2006, when a friend of her older daughter, Rose, a Harvard sophomore, sat in her kitchen and described how Ivy League students were already organizing for Obama even before he officially declared his candidacy.


Declining invitations to fund-raisers, she and her 17-year-old daughter Tatiana slipped unrecognized into a speech Obama made last April to an African-American audience in New York. Obama didn't realize she had been there until after he left, and he quickly called her to make amends for not saying hello, which was the first time they talked. She saw him speak again at an event on Martha's Vineyard over the summer (when she also saw a Hillary speech) and at a September Obama rally in Manhattan's Washington Square Park, where she stood unobtrusively at the rear of a huge crowd.

Unlike some voters, Caroline wasn't immediately swayed by his oratory. Instead she watched the campaign closely, read Obama's position papers and his memoir, "Dreams From My Father," and talked to Rose, Tatiana and Jack, now 15, whom Obama on Monday described as "my greatest advocates over the last several months." Like Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, two other prominent supporters, Caroline credits her children with influencing her to take a closer look at Obama.

After Obama's big victory in Iowa, she spoke with the Illinois senator on the phone and pledged her support. Then, last week, Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea called her. Unlike Ted Kennedy's heated phone conversation with Clinton (which I learned of in mid-January from sources outside the Kennedy family), Caroline and the former president spoke cordially. But all along Caroline was talking much more frequently to Ted, with whom she is extremely close.

The Obama camp at first thought to send Caroline out to announce her support by campaigning with Obama on JFK Boulevard in New Jersey, but she decided instead to offer an op-ed piece to the New York Times, which she wrote on her own late one night, a few days before the Jan. 26 South Carolina primary. Before the article appeared she called Chelsea to tell her she was backing Obama.

One intriguing element of Obama's family history that resonated with Caroline was a long-buried story that was brought to her attention last summer. It drove home for her how history replays itself, how two generations of two families—separated by distance, culture and wealth—can intersect in strange and wonderful ways, and how people have no idea that their good deeds may come back to them someday.

Two weeks after he was nominated for president in July 1960, then-Senator Kennedy received a visit at his vacation home in Hyannis Port, Mass., from a Kenyan educator, Tom Mboya, who told him that more than 200 African students had received scholarships to American universities through the African-American Students Foundation but did not have the $100,000 for air transport. Despite efforts by Vice President Nixon (whom JFK would face in the November election), the Eisenhower State Department would not pay for what was described as "the African airlift."

With only weeks to go before the school year began, Kennedy quietly tapped his family's Kennedy Foundation, which agreed to raise the necessary funds privately. Upon learning this Nixon, seeking black votes, quickly convinced the State Department to reverse itself and offer the money, then arranged for one of his best-known African-American supporters, retired Brooklyn Dodgers star Jackie Robinson, to write a newspaper column praising him for coming to the aid of the African students.

But Nixon didn't stop there. Sen. Hugh Scott, who headed Nixon's campaign "truth squad," took to the Senate floor to denounce JFK for "plucking this project away from the U.S. government" in a "misuse of tax-exempt foundation money for blatant political purposes." Kennedy replied that this was "the most unfair, distorted and malignant attack I have heard in 14 years in politics."

When the truth finally emerged, Robinson wrote a column saying, "I don't mind admitting it—I was wrong." The airlift money came through from the Kennedy Foundation, and the students arrived. Barack Obama Sr. went to the University of Hawaii, where he met and married a young white woman from Kansas.

Their son, born the following year, arrived in the United States Senate in early 2005 and found that the antique desk he had been assigned on the Senate floor had once belonged to JFK, whose initials were carved inside. Obama learned only recently how his father's dream of studying in the United States had been fulfilled. A "young senator from Massachusetts" made an effort, Obama told the crowd at American University. "And because he did, I stand before you today."

The story captured why Caroline felt so satisfied by the symmetry of Monday's event. By Tuesday she was off to Colorado to begin campaigning with the man she believes is the true heir to her own father's legacy.

 

[Blue York]

Endorsements can definately help a candidate.

Just saw on a blog someone saying how Kennedy was on the largest syndicated radio program in the US (bigger than Rush Limbaugh), some Mexican bloke in LA, talking about how Obama and how he was the only other senator helping him push for immigration reform. Hispanics are the biggest weakness in Obamas campaign in places like CA and other south west states and this could make a huge difference in that demographic.

 

[KissStephanie]

No one matters except old teddie

I think all Kennedy endorsements matter to a certain extent, and to completely dismiss the four that have endorsed Hillary Clinton is not being fair to Bobby Kennedy's family. There are many studies that have shown that it's debatable whether endorsements go very far, and some can actually hurt of course, but in this case, I doubt it can hurt, even though he is 75 years of age and was thrashed by Jimmy Carter in his only presidential run in 1980, and he may be able to help directly. Whether it makes a difference in the region is to be determined, and Hillary Clinton is still quite strong up there.

 

[gandaal]

I think all Kennedy endorsements matter to a certain extent, and to completely dismiss the four that have endorsed Hillary Clinton is not being fair to Bobby Kennedy's family. There are many studies that have shown that it's debatable whether endorsements go very far, and some can actually hurt of course, but in this case, I doubt it can hurt, even though he is 75 years of age and was thrashed by Jimmy Carter in his only presidential run in 1980, and he may be able to help directly. Whether it makes a difference in the region is to be determined, and Hillary Clinton is still quite strong up there.

Carter was the current President at the time and parties always nominate a reigning President from their own party for a second term. Taking that into consideration I think he did amazingly well, winning 10 primaries, and it was only the Iranian hostage crisis that swung the democrats back towards Carter.

 

[Qsaint]

I think all Kennedy endorsements matter to a certain extent, and to completely dismiss the four that have endorsed Hillary Clinton is not being fair to Bobby Kennedy's family. .

It was Billaries trashing of the Kennedy legacy that led to the turn around

[YOUTUBE]vVlnL1_xXJM[/YOUTUBE]


Kennedy advert in California

 

[Qsaint]

Obama picked up a bigger one, let's see Bill take this guy on.

Bill already got a mouthfull from this guy 2 days ago

We have four children with their spouses, we have eleven grandchildren, four or five of them are married, and all of them, except one, are for Obama,"

"I think that Obama will be almost automatically a healing factor in the animosity now and the distrust that relates to our country and its government,"

Jimmy Carter

 

[Hawkamania!]

Another endorsement for Obama. This time from the granddaughter of a republican president.

 

[Qsaint]

Ike?

 

[gandaal]

La Opinión, the biggest spanish language newspaper in LA and the western states of America, has endorsed Barrack Obama today which is pretty big news considering how strong the support for Hilary is among Latino voters.

http://uspolitics.tribe.net/thread/127fa9e0-623c-40ce-9004-f62c8ab7dc8a