UPDATE: Now, Caroline AND Ted Kennedy endorse Barack Obama

(UPDATE: On Sunday the Associated Press, quoting "party officials," was the first to report that Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts would endorse Sen. Barack Obama at a news conference in Washington on Monday. As an influential party elder, Kennedy's endorsement has been eagerly-sought and long-awaited in Democratic circles, not least for its accompanying connections to his broad national political and fundraising network.

(And its loss is a blow to the Clinton campaign, although perhaps not a surprise after Caroline Kennedy's endorsement reported below.

(The Times' Maria LaGanga confirmed the impending Ted Kennedy endorsement, which will come on Monday in Washington during a joint appearance at American University with his niece, Caroline. According to Times sources, Sen. Kennedy will actively campaign for Obama around the country with special emphasis on labor and Latino groups, where Kennedy is strong after his ardent advocacy of immigration reform.

(The other two big Democratic endorsements much-sought in this campaign were Sen. John Kerry and former vice president Al Gore. Kerry has already also endorsed Obama. Gore has yet to take sides, although his relationship with Hillary Clinton during their White House years was often fraught with friction.

(Sen. Clinton was in Memphis at a black church service when her spokesman, Doug Hattaway, sought to downplay the Kennedy endorsement by issuing the following statement: "She has a great deal of respect for Sen. Kennedy and is very proud of the endorsements she's received from her Senate colleagues. At the end of the day, people will select a candidate based more on their merits than on their endorsements.'')

A very, very good night for Barack Obama just got better.

Just minutes before the Illinois senator officially claimed his victory in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary to an adoring crowd, his campaign publicized what readers of the New York Times will learn in Sunday's edition -- Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the president whose aura Obama has sought to capture, wants him to win.

She begins her Op-Ed article thusly: "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."

That's music to the ears of the Obama campaign, which from the start of his White House bid has sought to cast him in the role of John F. Kennedy.

That effort received a bit of a boost this summer when the man we described at the time as "the most devout keeper of the assassinated president's legacy, Theodore Sorensen," promoted him as Kennedy's logical heir. But Sorensen, at this point in his long life, is known mainly to historians.

An embrace from Caroline Kennedy -- who a vast swath of the American public has watched grow from a pixieish little girl who brightened the White House to an accomplished middle-aged woman who has weathered the early deaths of her dad and brother -- is quite another matter.

Her piece also contains some backhanded slaps at Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Kennedy extols Obama for "running a dignified and honest campaign." She writes: "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."

And then there's this, an assertion that likely will garner the most attention (and surely will cause Bill Clinton to grimace):

"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."

Her move will no doubt intensify speculation about whether her uncle, party stalwart Ted Kennedy, will come off the sidelines in the primary race. It was reported earlier this week that he was among the party heavyweights who, in private conversations, urged ex-President Clinton to soften the barbs he's been directing at Obama -- advice that initially, at least, was ignored.

-- Don Frederick 

Comments

[Enrique]

Barack Obama inspires this Latino just like JFK did my parents. Tonight's victory in South Carolina will show my fellow Latinos across this country that Barack Obama will lead this country in a new direction.

[JohnSmith.P]

A person’s character is shaped and tested by their experiences. Character should matter as much if not more than their experience when we elect our next President.

1969 – While Barack Obama was being raised by a single mother and experiencing a life of racial and cultural diversity , Hillary Clinton was learning the art of triangulation and writing an admiring college thesis on Saul Alinsky whose fifth rule of political agitation was, “Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.”

1979 – While Barack Obama was actively involved in the South African divestment movement to end apartheid, Hillary was reaping profits of almost 10,000% in the futures markets and leaving taxpayers with her real-estate losses in the Savings & Loan bailout.

1989 – While Barack Obama served as the Harvard Law Review’s first black president in its 104 year history, Hillary Clinton then wife of the Arkansas governor was receiving payments from a law firm that was doing the state's business and receiving board of director payments from Wal-Mart where she remained silent about Wal-Mart’s anti-labor union practices.

1999 – While Barack Obama was securing bipartisan support for health-care reform and passage of low-income tax credits and child care subsidies in the Illinois legislature, Hillary Clinton was urging her husband to bomb Yugoslavia and supporting his Iraq “regime change” policy in order to divert public attention from the president’s marital, legal and ethical infidelities.

2007 – While Barack was promoting a restoration of balance between work and wealth and criticizing special interests for distorting U.S. tax codes, Hillary and her husband were liquidating their blind trust of the nearly $50 million amassed during their years in public office.

The U.S. needs a uniter not a divider for President as the global economy teeters on the brink of economic meltdown not unlike the Great Depression.

Afterall the Roaring Twenties decade that preceded the Great Depression, like the Irrational Nineties that preceded our current decade, were both a golden age for technology, scandal-plagued politicians, corporate greed, and unrestrained personal debt and speculation.

[Sophie]

Wow, that's awesome. Even though I prefer John Edwards to Obama-- and a I plan to vote Green Party if Hillary Clinton is nominated -- I am inspired by Caroline Kennedy's strength and sense of judgment. She is truly her father's daughter. Obama is a worthy candidate to carry the Democrats.

[MARK A. FRY]

i thnk that there is no one better qualified to speak about her fathers legacy than Caroline Kennedy !!!
To endorse obama says it all .....with tears in my eyes...nothing more has to be said ...end of story !!!

[Doug Thompson]

Isn't it wonderful to feel so good about getting behind a candidate? I voted for Bill Clinton twice but was never very proud of it. I thought he was better than his opposition. I can vote for Barack knowing not only that he is a remarkable leader but also a remarkable human being. Hillary is not a bad person but she does not have Barack's capacity to build a movement that transcends race, age, and gender.

[steven gracia]

This is truly a great piece...!!! However, I really think that the LA Times is biased and wants Billary to win.

But, as Caroline so eloquently says "Barack is running a dignified and honest campaign. And I totally agree with her when she said

"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."

Caroline..truly your father's life was not taken invain. Barack with our help will help us to make the dream of what we can do for our country a true reality!!!!

Great story LA Times....please stop being so biased toward Billary with all the love that you are showing her. I don't hear you talking about how she got over a million dollars from the fraud dude Hsu????

[wes]

Wow! this is amazing.

[Richard Frick]

Barak Obama is the first politician who has inspired me since Robert Kennedy. I worked on Senator Kennedy's campaign. A while ago, the Clintons drove me from the Democratic party. Obama has brought me back. Caroline Kennedy, with a clarity and eloquence that is her own, and echoes hopes that resonate with those of us who will always remember, illuminates the contrast between vision and naked ambition, between integrity and manipulative narcissism. I speak of the former President Clinton, not the one who hopes to be the future, but is so mired in the past that whatever voice she could ever hope to find is hallow, bitter and always divisive.

[petesb]

Glad Hillbill lost big time even with Bill lies about Barack. Maybe America is finally walking up to lies, lack of ethics ,and win at any cost by the power couple wannbes back in the White House!!

[Dave Guss]

The world loved JFK and world loves Obama.
Way to go, Caroline! Let's make America great again!

[Mo]

Congrats to Sen. Obama on the big win! I hope this will send the Clinton's a message that the voters will not accept race-baiting. They may think that racial code words can divide democratic voters, but theyre wrong. Democrats understand that united we stand, and divided we fall. Obama is the most unifying, representative figure in the country. He understands the Immigrant Experience like not other President in the history of the country. He understands the urban experience. As the son of a middle class, caucasian Kansan mother, he understands the experience of the middle of America. He understands the experience of a Harvard law graduate, a civil rights attorney, a professor of constitutional law, a state senator, and a U.S. Senator. He doesnt just understand these experiences, he has lived them! Obama is the right person to lead all Americans! Best of luck to him!

[Janet Downing]

Sad that Caroline would endorse Obama. Kerry was probably behind it. I don't think her mother (Jacqueline) would be happy. If he beats Hilary, the Republican's will turn out in a force unheard of.

I would not be proud to have someone who is unknown in the White House. A White House with a Black President who has never been in the military. Woe is us.

Kerry couldn't win and neither will this arrogant Obama who thinks he is another Lincoln and a David Palmer like on 24.

genadoll@yahoo.com

[Jorge]

Dear Mr. Frederick:

I hope that you can contact Ms. Kennedy and give her my message. As a Latino person who believed in her dad's legacy. I'm so sorry that she is endorsing someone with no experience or expertise, someone that won't be able to take us out of this recession. Just because one speaks eloquently doesn't mean that they will be a good president. I'm glad that we live in a country in which everyone can voice their opinion and this is mine Why try to nominate someone that as George Bush will rely on other people to tell him how to govern. Someone which obviously have republican beliefs and can't stand behind any of his votes in his short career as a Senator. If he is nominated for the democrat seat I will definitely will vote Republican.

Thanks for your time,
Jorge, Phoenix, AZ

[Lou in SC]

Bobby Kennedy's children, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (former Lt. Gov. of Maryland) both endorsed Hillary Clinton some time ago. As a boomer who also went into public service because of JFK's inspiration, I believe that inspiration is only one part of the equation. Lasting and profound change in our country has only come about when ideals are translated into reality by the enactment of legislation. Building the coalitions to get that done requires not ony a willingness to work with others of different philosophies but also deep, substantive knowledge of the issues. Without that, you can't negotiate effectively and end up having the wool pulled over your eyes. Hillary Clinton freely admits she's a workhorse, not a showhorse, but she has demonstrated she knows how to get things done. If people were less generous in their criticism of her, maybe she would also feel the freedom to be more eloquent and inspirational. She deserves our respect and, in my view, our votes. I'm counting on you, California!

[Laura]

I was born after President Kennedy, but I alway hear from older people talk about how wonderful he was. I live in Germany and the Europeans admired JFK ,they even said that Obama reminded them of him while he was President. I guess we won't know until he wins the Campagn. He is the only nominee I feel fully confident about in this race. Being the youngest canidate of course he will be picked on about stupid things people come up with.

[FJ Stratford]

Obama supporters wake up. Obama is running a racist campaign.

Obama's camp compared their vicotry over Clinton in Iowa to OJ's murder of his wife.

That was waaaaaay back in January. And the media covered it up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDaO7N-JujU

[katharine]

Obama is the future of the Democratic Party and the future of America. After Bill Clinton's distateful tactics this past week it is obvious that the duo will only succeed in dividing, first, their party, and then the nation. With Bill overshadowing her campaign and her white house tenure, Hillary Clinton will never find a viable vice president, will disenfranchise independents and republicans who would be willing to move towrad the Democratic party, and loose a good many disgusted democrats as well, who have been posting on blogs throughout the nation that they will not, under any circumstances, vote for Hillary Clinton in any election. Clinton will loose handily to John McCain, who can beat her on experience, on patriotism, on the ability to be comander in chief, and more importantly, on the ability to draw from independents and the other party. Democrats vote for Hillary Clinton at their peril, and at the peril of our country.

[andy]

Go Carolina Kennedy! Go Obama! (Shame on Bill Clinton!!) I encourage you all read Obama's writings over the past several years. Unlike Clinton he is not "inventing" himself for this presidential race. Outside of his books, see his Knox College Commencement address from 2005 http://www.knox.edu/x9803.xml
me-(43 year old white guy from North Carolina)

[Julia Marshall]

HOORAY FOR CAROLINE AND HORRAY FOR OBAMA'S WIN!!! Although I am currently inEngland, I have seen the light within Barack Obama since I first heard him speak. OUR COUNTRY CERTAINLY NEEDS A POSITIVE CHANGE, and BARACK OBAMA seems to be the light that willl take us out of our years of darkness! I PRAY A MAJORITY OF AMERICAN'S WILL HEED THIS WAKE UP CALL, AND WE WILL ONCE AGAIN BE...A UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!

[spring woods]

Obama achieved a tremendous victory last night in spite of Bill Clinton's "clever" tactics. This "fairy tale" is starting to look like it has a happy ending. The whole world needs Obama, not just the US.

[Tanisha Everett]

Well,

I find the fact that Ms. Kennedy is supporting Obama a sign of change. Many want to throw race into the fray but it seems it isn't working. As far as the Jesse Jackson, Jr comment it was not made by Barack, the man would never be able to campaign if he had to chase every fire that was lit near, under or above him. What JJ,Jr said has nothing to do with Obama, it is quite hard to be racist when you were raised by a white woman. Make sure you put that in your pipe.

#2 Everyone is killing me with this experience thing, Hillary Clinton has 6 years experience as an official politician, I feel it is dishonest and ridiculous to count her time as the First Lady and wife as a governor as "experience."

If I were to apply for a job and include in my experience section the time I served with my husband at a job plant as my experience, the employer would laugh my resume out the office.

I pray that America wakes and truly understands what is at stake. Will we continue to be a country divided by nationality, religion and party or will we unite as a country to defeat our enemy? Because in all honesty if we cannot unify on the ground--which Obama's campaign as been able to do successfully-- then we will never come out of the shadow of the Bush regime.

Go Caroline for seeing in Obama what you saw in your father and for your Aunt seeing in Obama what she saw in Bobby.

[will]

Epistle to Caroline: Your father,JFK was a great man and nobody can deny his inspirational oratory prowess. But how many Americans were adults in 1960 and are able to recall the Kennedy presidency from 1961-Nov.22.1963 with objectivity and honest unbiased evaluation. I dare say very few ! There were some troubling moments like the Bay of PIgs and the Cuban Missile Crisis . I can remember the fear my family and i experienced when JFK came on national TV and told the nation that any attack from Cuba would be met with a nuclear response against the Soviet Union. JFK was a young President and very inspirational but his youth and inexperience was a detriment.(note Barack's reckless and hawkish comment regarding invading Pakastan, a sovereign nuclear power--an act that he backed off of in a nationally televised debate, after Hillary informed him of the potential consequences of setting off a conflagration with its neighbor,India--in order to find Osama Bin Laden) And so, Caroline , although I can appreciate your sentiment ,I must also caution against your oversight of the value of experience. Hillary is an astute ,knowledgeable and prudent person. She has more experience than Obama and will make a better President than her husband Bill and can be trusted to secure the nation's safety better than Obama. Hillary is an A+ student of the real world while Obama merely gets a B at best.

[benvictor]

Does this matter? I am curious why the news coverage and who is thought to be swayed by her endorsement? Frankly, Rambo endorsing John has more influence. At last count, this puts her in the same camp as John Kerry. And, we know about him. Personally, I am affronted by her lack of guts to support the first woman for President. I am a white male who will vote with the sisterhood in supporing Hillary for President.

[Lauren]

This is very big! I think that Caroline's words about Barack will open up a lot of people to his message. Hillary keeps saying she has 35 years of experience but she graduated from college 35 years ago. The numbers don't add up. The exit polls in South Carolina showed that the majority of people who voted for her voted for her because of her husband. The candidates should be judged on their experiences.

*Hillary voted Yes for war in Iraq
*Yes to the bankruptcy bill
*No to two supreme court justices she admitted were highly qualified but would not promise to vote her way on roe v. wade (which is illegal for a justice to decide a case they have not heard)
*She couldn't get the healthcare bill passed when she was first Lady

I don't understand why women feel the need to vote for a woman who needs her husband to fight her battles for her. There are plenty of women who are far more qualified to be president than her: Madeline Albright, Janet Reno, Condolezza Rice, and Nancy Pelossi to name a few. We should be voting based on issues not our gender. If she can't fight Barack Obama on her own how can she deal with men like Vladamir Putin, Bin Laden, Kim J E, or the like?

[Jack Mylou]

Its confirmed in SC, Obama is the black special-interest only candidate. SC only showed that Obama proved true to his racist church. Its was black voters ONLY that gave him the un-impressive win in SC. Michelle Obama has been stumping throwing our racial comments last few months but media refuses to report or print. That worked in a mostly black voter state (SC), wont work anywhere else, obamas have spent months chasing black voters from the Clintons and distanced himself from ALL white and Hispanics voters, again, showing he isn’t too smart at making decisions and proven he doesn’t have the ability to look ahead, but in his favor, no one said he was smart, just able to give a black inspirational speech that’s written for him.. He is def not the uniter he and the media claimed. It was no surprise he won SC... Now let’s move on to the not so racist primaries...Obama is an embarrassment to the U.S. His idea of change is going back to racial divisions of the 60's...He is a fairy tale in politics...Not experienced, no substance, now all he and Michele offer is skin color to the 1/3 of the American voters...BIG MISTAKE. More and more proof this guy couldn’t lead his way of a paper bag...
Obama supporters wake up. Obama is running a racist campaign.

Obama's camp compared their vicotry over Clinton in Iowa to OJ's murder of his wife.

That was waaaaaay back in January. And the media covered it up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch...