Obama-Kennedy alliance sets focus

Campaign evokes vision of icons

Barack Obama applauded with Caroline Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who have endorsed the presidential contender, yesterday at American University in Washington. (Mike Theiler/Reuters)

WASHINGTON - It was a day when Democratic royalty spoke of the past, of the future, and of past legends who looked to the future.

In casting Barack Obama as a contemporary John F. Kennedy, a parade of Kennedys and Obama himself yesterday evoked Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and even Edward M. Kennedy's famous 1980 convention speech in paying tribute to their party's age-old commitment to the future.

Kennedy used Obama's lexicon in his tribute to the Illinois senator, telling an exuberant crowd at American University that "in Barack Obama, I see not just the audacity, but the possibility of hope for the America that is yet to be."

And Obama borrowed from the Massachusetts Democrat's 1980 convention speech as he praised the Kennedy clan and the vision they promised for the future.

"I think my own sense of what's possible in this country comes in part from what they said America was like in the days of John and Robert Kennedy. No matter where I go, or who I talk to, one thing I can say for certain is that the dream has never died," Obama said as Kennedyhis son, Representative Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, and niece Caroline Kennedy looked on.

For Obama, the embrace of his party's most famous family marked a crucial moment of acceptance. And while the Kennedy name will carry clout in many states voting next Tuesday, the senator's endorsement also brought the self-styled outsider into the inner circle of the liberal establishment.

For a candidate running on a promise to change Washington, aligning with a 45-year veteran of Capitol Hill might seem contradictory, analysts and elected officials said. But they said the Kennedy stamp of approval helps Obama with what has been his biggest vulnerability: a worry among Democrats that he can't win.

"A lot of us want us to take bigger steps than we do. But sometimes you say, 'If I take that bigger step, do we fall?' " said Representative Michael Capuano, a Somerville Democrat who also endorsed Obama yesterday. "He [Kennedy] is telling people it's OK to take that bigger step. We can do it. We can win."

The crowd appeared to agree, frequently interrupting Obama with shouts of "Yes, we can!"

"Today isn't just about politics for me - it's personal," Obama said. "I was too young to remember John Kennedy and I was just a child when Robert Kennedy ran for president. But in the stories I heard growing up, I saw how my grandparents and mother spoke about them, and about that period in our nation's life - as a time of great hope and achievement."

The crowd - most of whom were born decades after the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy - also cheered the senior Kennedy.

"Let us remember that when Franklin Roosevelt envisioned Social Security, he didn't decide, no, it was too ambitious, too big a dream, too hard. When John Kennedy thought of going to the moon, he didn't say, 'No. It's too far. Maybe we can't get there. Shouldn't even try,' " the Bay State senator said.

Kennedy also pointedly took apart the objections the campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton has made against Obama. Without mentioning names - Kennedy's only direct reference to Clinton was as a defender of women's rights around the world - Kennedy nonetheless took shots aimed at Clinton and her husband, the former president.

Obama was against the Iraq war from the start, and "let no one deny that truth," Kennedy asserted, clearly referring to Bill Clinton's comment that Obama's antiwar record is a "fairy tale."

Kennedy also declared Obama "ready to be president on day one," - an argument that Clinton makes for herself on the campaign trail - and said the Illinois senator would "turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion," an apparent reference to advertisements that the Clinton campaign has run against Obama.

Nor should the campaign pit "race against race," Kennedy said, a reference to squabbling between Obama and the Clintons that so infuriated the Massachusetts lawmaker that he called the former president to ask him to tone down his comments.

Kennedy plans to campaign with Obama, giving him both political muscle and personal advice. Kennedy offered his time, and some of his senior staff, to Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004, and campaign advisers said the senior lawmaker was critical to helping Kerry score a comeback win in the Iowa caucuses.

"He just understands the playing field and he's a great strategist. He has a good sense of the direction of things," Kerry said. "He comes in at the right moment, gives you good advice, and gets out there to energize people."

Kennedy's influence is seen as especially significant among the constituencies Obama needs most: rank-and-file Democrats, union households, and Hispanics.

Art Torres, chairman of the California Democratic Party, said Kennedy's endorsement could give union households, including those backing former North Carolina senator John Edwards, license to "shift their progressive leanings" over to Obama. And he said it could allow Obama to tap into the power the Kennedy name holds in Hispanic communities; though he warned that Hispanics still have a high regard for Clinton.

"There's a long history with Hillary and those voters, and I don't know whether a Ted Kennedy will help [Obama] have access to that," said Torres.

President Kennedy, the first Catholic president, is a legendary figure among Latinos. Robert Kennedy was known for his vocal support for Mexican labor leader Cesar Chavez in the 1960s. And Edward Kennedy's longstanding advocacy for immigration reform has made him an "iconic figure" among some Latinos, said Cecilia Munoz, senior vice president for policy at La Raza, the national Hispanic civil rights organization

"He is deeply revered in the Latino community as someone who has stood by us from the beginning, and who has stood by us when the going gets tough," she said.

Kennedy's appeal to lower-income households - which, according to exit polls, have consistently voted for Clinton in the primaries - can also help Obama reach that voter group, said Dan Payne, a Boston-based Democratic strategist.

"Barack Obama has had the Starbucks vote throughout the campaign," Payne said. "Ted Kennedy can now help with the Dunkin' Donuts vote, and that's what he needs to round out his candidacy - to be able to appeal to classic Democrats."