Congratulations from an Obama supporter to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for securing the endorsement of former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey yesterday. My family were new to the country and couldn’t vote yet in 92, and I was far too young to be paying attention to the primary myself, but my best friend was probably the biggest 8-yr-old Bob Kerrey fan in Massachusetts back then, so I have had a great respect for him, and wish he was running for Chuck Hagel’s senate seat. So I congratulate the Clinton campaign, but also want to share Kerrey’s statements on Obama’s strengths.
from the Washington Post
After the event, he mused about her chief competitor, Sen. Barack Obama.“The fact that he’s African American is a big deal. I do expect and hope that Hillary is the nominee of the party. But I hope he’s used in some way. If he happens to be the nominee of the party and ends up being president, I think his capacity to influence in a positive way without spending a penny the behavior of a lot of underperforming black youth today is very important, and he’s the only one who can reach them.”
Kerrey continued, “It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim. There’s a billion people on the planet that are Muslims and I think that experience is a big deal.” He added, “He’s got a whale of a lot more intellectual talent than I’ve got as well.”
He veered back to Clinton: “She does inspire my confidence. She can do the job. In my view she’s the complete package.” Kerrey was reminded that his 1992 bid for the Democratic nomination — the year Bill Clinton won — came two years into his Senate tenure, just like Obama. In retrospect, he said his lack of experience “turned out to be very important…I didn’t win, you may have noticed.” But he added, “Obama’s got the sort of experiences that are much different from mine.”
(emphasis mine)
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