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Go Home Teddy At The Bat

THE PLANK JANUARY 28, 2008

Teddy At The Bat

BY DAYO OLOPADE

Ted Kennedy just finished speaking, in seriously impassioned fashion
to a sympathetic crowd at American. He spoke for only about 15 minutes, but
made more than one subtle reference to the “division” and “distortion” that
has perhaps prompted his endorsement. Key remarks (which may not match the
eventual transcript):

I feel change in the air. …I’ll support the candidate who
inspires me, who inspires all of us, who can lift our vision and summon our dreams
and renew our hopes that our country’s best days lie ahead. I found that
candidate. And I think you have too.

He then gave fair credit and due to “the hard work and
dedication” of Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, citing them as “my friends,”
and assuring the audience that “whoever is the nominee will have my enthusiastic
support, and will have yours too. Let there be no doubt that we are all committed
to having a Democratic president in 2008.”

He continued: “But I believe there is one candidate who possesses
extraordinary talents and character matched to the extraordinary demands of
today.”

In case we were wondering, it is Barack Hussein Obama.

He is a leader who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of
the past; he is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is
a fighter who believes passionately in the causes he believes in without demonizing
those who hold a different view.

He has an uncommon capacity to appeal to the better
angels of our nature…. I am here to offer my help, offer my voice, offer my
energy, offer my commitment to make Barack Obama the next president.

The justification:

I was moved four years ago when he told us a truth, that we
must be not just red states and blue states but we must be [here the crowd
joined in] United States.
Since that time I have marveled at his grit and his grace as he went across the
country and inspired people of all races, all genders, all parties, all faiths…
I’ve seen him connect with people of all walks of life and on both sides of the
aisle.

The “movement” talk is well and good, and clearly put Obama’s
particular charms in perspective. But primarily, Kennedy was here to establish
Obama’s senatorial bona fides, and certainly did his duty. He spoke
convincingly about Obama’s  legislative
accomplishments (“He was there in the early hours to help us hammer out a compromise
on immigration reform”), and delivered a simple putdown of Clinton’s mantra that brought the house down:
“I know that he’s ready to be President on day one.” 

 

Kennedy also invoked his brother’s period conflict with a certain
former president who privileged experience over John Kennedy’s inspirational
mien. He cited Harry Truman, saying then, “We needed someone with greater experience,”
adding a gentle “I urge you to be patient.” Ted paraphrased JFK’s response in
closing: “The world is changing, the old ways will not do…And so it is with Barack
Obama. … My friends I ask you to join in this journey. To have the courage to
make change.”

 

All in all, it was a solid, controlled tactical effort from a speaker draped in
gravitas. I particularly enjoyed the “Obamer” that would occasionally escape in
Kennedy’s thick Boston
accent.

--Dayo Olopade

(Photo courtesy Getty Images) 

Update: Full text and video here. 

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23 comments

Obamer!  Thanks for relating that.  I am from Mass and shed my accent when I went to college, but I will never be able to think of him without remembering that.

- stgla

January 28, 2008 at 2:11pm

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This just in: Mary Jo Kopechne has endorsed Clinton.

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 2:34pm

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Lymon, that was pretty low-class.

- miceelf

January 28, 2008 at 2:48pm

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I was wondering when all this Ted Kennedy talk was going to result in a horrible, tasteless comment in the true style fitting TNR comments...

- bcbaird

January 28, 2008 at 2:54pm

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This endorsement is huge because of Clinton's major source of strength: old people. So far, this has been a bloc of voters that has been deaf to Obama's charm. "Nice speech, kiddo, but wait your turn."

For old voters, this is not just another endorsement. This is the longtime heir of the Kennedy mantle, the grizzled old uber-Liberal, enthusiastically supporting Mr. Youth.

If there's much replay of the “I know that he’s ready to be President on day one" line, it will help Obama among older Democrats.

- huntlib

January 28, 2008 at 2:58pm

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Spare me the faux-outrage.  You have to suspend your rational thought processes not to conclude that AT BEST Ted Kennedy was not truthful about his role in her death. 10 hours without calling the police, credibly disputed reports that he was not sober when he was driving, etc. etc.  Usually I can let it pass when Kennedy comes up, but not when he's spewing about such noble and lofty goals.  Now if you want to attack me for using humor about her death, I'll accept that, but the tone I was hoping to capture was is if she could I don't think she would want to be forgotten this way.  There's a reason she apparently popped into your conciousness.  

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 3:14pm

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Heh, a Clinton supporter getting all uppity and snarky about Teddy after he endorsed Obama. Stay classy lymon and I'll assume you're writing this from Marc Rich's chalet while being serviced by a Fayetteville floozy.

- ilnoca

January 28, 2008 at 3:35pm

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Lymon1:

If I saw my two brothers murdered senseslessly in public (along with all of the other 50s and 60s Kennedy family tragedies), I might also take to drinking heavily and behaving recklessly as a youth.

Give me a break.

- virginiacentrist

January 28, 2008 at 3:41pm

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ilnoca:  Apparently you missed it when I've written, repeatedly, that I'm not voting for Hillary and that I don't approve of the Clintons campaign (let alone when I've chastised them for lying about their role in the Rwandan genocide).  If Kennedy had endorsed Hillary Clinton I'd have said the same thing.  I've repeatedly posted that I'm either voting for Edwards as a protest and/or hope to keep the convention open for Gore or someone else, but I'll support the Dem in the general election.  

Virginia: I don't blame Kennedy for the accident -- i.e., that he's beyond forgiveness --  I blame him for the lies and cover-up.  I will note the irony of a person whose top issue has been universal health care backing the candidate who criticizes mandated coverage, but that's politics.

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 3:56pm

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Yeah, there weren't any Teddy Kennedy jokes from the Hillary folks before this, and I bet there wouldn't have been, had he backed her.

How many more plays are they gonna rip from the Limbaugh playbook?

Stay classy, indeed.

- miceelf

January 28, 2008 at 4:00pm

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miceelf: Amazing that Kopechne is so unsympathetic that it's impossible somebody couldn't resent Ted Kennedy without having an ulterior motive.  To repeat, I'm not voting for Hillary Clinton.  I supported Bill CLinton's impeachment (very reluctantly, because didn't seem as big of a deal as Andrew Johnson or Richard Nixon, but it still had to be done out of respect for the rule of law).  Believe me, I hoped Kennedy wasn't going to make an endorsement precisely because of the unseemly nature of either (had he endorsed Hillary, it would be the whole "what is a real feminist" thing).  I'll accept the "unclassy" remark for the humor, but no way is it wrong to remember her or the incident at a time like this.

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 4:12pm

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lymon1:

Fair enough. I guess I'm just callous enough to not really care. Do I really believe Ted's story? I'm sort of on the fence. And being on the fence about something that happened 40 years ago means that I can't quite register outrage or sympathy or even thought.

Regarding healthcare: Ted Kennedy worked on this issue in 1993, and saw first hand the incredible Hillary Clinton incompetence. Perhaps that's a small percentage of his calculus? Why give her another chance to poison the well again for another generation?

- virginiacentrist

January 28, 2008 at 4:20pm

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why did you bring it up..clown! you are ahahaha!

- tkozal

January 28, 2008 at 4:27pm

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If Ted Kennedy is anything like a normal human being, then he's lived with the knowledge of his role in the death of MJK for 35 years.  That's his business with his own conscience.  However, even if you regard him as being somehow delegitimated by that event for future public life, it's ludicrous to suggest that his endorsement of somebody else who had no connection whatsoever to that event is compromised by the event.  That's more than guilt by assocation, that's gothic horror stuff.

Who knows, perhaps it's possible to do good things in life that don't compensate for, but can live alongside, the bad things.

- ironyroad

January 28, 2008 at 4:29pm

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It's got nothing to do with feelings about MJK. But, as ironyroad, more eloquently said, its got nothing to do with his subsequent work or with his public life, or with his standing in the party.

If there was an objection to any of those things, there has been 35 years to being it up- run a primary campaign against him in Mass, seek his impeachment, whatever.

Laura Bush is also responsible for another human being's death. But most people don't bring up that fact in polite company to be snarky.

- miceelf

January 28, 2008 at 4:47pm

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Virgina: point taken, but I think if T.Kennedy were here and speaking honestly, he'd both admit to liking Hillary's plan more (which is really Edwards' plan) and that like Krugman he did not like Obama's attacks on it.  He's worked on the issue far longer -- he championed national health insurance in the 1970's.  I've always felt that the nation wasn't ready to break conservative/Reagan in 1980 as much as they were looking to break somewhere.  Kennedy's race against Carter was very odd -- it seemed like subconciously he didn't want to be President, because once it was clear that he wasn't going to win he became a much better campaigner, and gave one of the finest political speeches I've heard in my life at the convention -- Walter Mondale clearly rewrote his veep speech for the next day to echo it.  (Then Kennedy made Jimmy Carter chase around the stage after him on the last day).  

To the rest: forgive my bad humor and please accept that *this* post was not meant as an Obama detraction.  And whatever you think of Ted Kennedy, give MJK a thought -- I think on any day when Kennedy's accomplishments are going to be directly or indirectly in the spotlight she deserves that much.  

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 4:55pm

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lymon, it was in bad taste but I found it funny, but please don't analyse it, expect the lumps that comes with jokes that are done in bad taste. And spare us your sentimentality about MJK. You used her in bad taste, fair enough, but don't pretend you did it out of love for her.

- blackton

January 28, 2008 at 5:46pm

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Whose death was Laura Bush responsible for?

- epicciuto

January 28, 2008 at 5:55pm

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Miceelf: Since when is the Internet polite company? I totally did not get that memo. I always thought it was like a cross between an airport, a Greek city square, and a Hobbesian state of nature.

- guyminuslife

January 28, 2008 at 5:57pm

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guy- well, I was being ironic, particularly given the usual heat/light ratio here.

epicciuto- the young man who died was named Michael Dutton Douglas, a high school classmate of Laura Bush's. He was killed when she ran a stop sign, ramming his car.

You can look him up on wikipedia, for more details.

- miceelf

January 28, 2008 at 6:09pm

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blackton -- other than invoking burt reynolds ("give me the sodium pentathol" or whatever that stuff is), all I can say is 1) I do regret the joke -- I can appreciate a bad taste joke but I usually don't think well of the people who make them -- they're easy to make but painful for many to hear -- so I was being a hypocrite; 2) someone close to me was killed by a likely drunk driver (from the reports -- it was hit and run and they never caught the driver) and she's all but forgotten too, so honestly, media events like this do sting.  But I'm sure that other people here have similar stories and it doesn't, or shouldn't, make a difference as to the presidential race and I'm sorry I used this for a place to vent/crack wise.  

- Lymon1

January 28, 2008 at 6:10pm

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I appreciate that, Lymon. sincerely.

- miceelf

January 28, 2008 at 8:41pm

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"Friends don't let friends..."

- pedrichards

January 29, 2008 at 11:00am

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