Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Ted Kennedy goes for Obama, who’s still way behind in MA

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UPDATE: Here's video:

 

Ted Kennedy apparently gave a very moving speech on behalf of Obama's candidacy today. TPM has the text (Hey, how about sending it to your constituents, Senator?):

There was another time, when another young candidate was running for President and challenging America to cross a New Frontier. He faced public criticism from the preceding Democratic President, who was widely respected in the party. Harry Truman said we needed “someone with greater experience”—and added: “May I urge you to be patient.” And John Kennedy replied: “The world is changing. The old ways will not do…It is time for a new generation of leadership.”

So it is with Barack Obama. He has lit a spark of hope amid the fierce urgency of now.

And indeed, this endorsement comes as no surprise. Ted Sorensen was out front with the JFK comparisons early on; Former JFK advisor and Senator Harris Wofford has been emotional, even gushing in saying how Obama reminds him of JFK. It really is about the old times for the Kennedy Gang vis-a-vis Obama; that's not a slight against either.  I suspect that TK was waiting for Obama to really show himself as a genuinely viable candidate before he burned his bridges with the Clintons and endorsed.

Now, it's very interesting that Obama has landed the endorsements of each of the Big Three — Kennedy, Kerry, and Patrick — but still trails Hillary badly in MA. But perhaps the takeaway from NH and SC is not that polls are meaningless, but that the race is very fluid. The effect of the pileup of endorsements may not be manifesting itself yet … if ever.

For Super Tuesday, the race hits a different gear: No more retail politics, diner meals and steak frys — it's Big Media/Big Bucks Politics. So the media consultants and admakers will really be running the show for the next month. As if it weren't bad enough to see all the ads targeted at New Hampshire!

So here's my wish for the media: As an antidote to the Super-Duper Tuesday ad wars, I'd love to see as much candidate-public interaction as possible. Citizens often do ask good, tough, pertinent questions; and if and when the candidate wanders off the talking points in answering, that might be the most interesting and telling material.

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Comments

  2. I feel like I’m stuck in a Catch-22.  If I’m enthusiastic for Obama, I’m a gullible rube who didn’t learn the Deval lesson (like rocks vs. scissors, entrenched power beats uplifting rhetoric); if I have lukewarm support for him, why even bother?

    <

    p>Well, I am enthusiastic about Obama, even as I acknowledge his shortcomings.  I could go into why Obama’s powerful rhetoric does matter, and why I am simply not enthusiastic about HRC or Edwards, but that seems to be pretty well covered here.  Instead, I’ll stick with one specific example that I think is emblematic of Obama’s candidacy.

    <

    p>Last fall, Obama said in a speech:

    To seize this moment, we have to use technology to open up our democracy. It’s no coincidence that one of the most secretive Administrations in history has favored special interests and pursued policies that could not stand up to sunlight. As President, I’ll change that. I’ll put government data online in universally accessible formats.

    <

    p>Now, this may not seem like a major policy position.  But it is to me.  The fundamental transforming aspect of the Internet is that it makes information much more readily accessible than before.  And information enables knowledge, which enables action (or widsom, or power, take your pick).  

    <

    p>I have found in my limited experience that having access to government data is incredibly empowering.  In my own case, working on the town-level, I’ve been able to get up to speed on certain issues with long histories by Googling old committees’ meeting minutes on my town’s website.  Committee reports that are posted online take minutes to find; older reports that only exist as hardcopy take days to even find out about, and days more to track down.

    <

    p>Making more government data available online is a good thing, and will allow sites like MapLight to only become more useful.

    <

    p>I’m also heartened that Obama specified “universally accessible formats.”  As anyone in Massachusetts who followed the open formats war is aware, open standards mean more freedom.  Full stop.  The fact that Obama’s campaign got this little detail right speaks volumes to me.

    <

    p>I realize the above campaign pledge is just that, a pledge, that may never see the light of day.  But it’s this sort of attention to detail (and the right details), that gets me excited.

    <

    p>BTW here’s another Obama endorsement by Lawrence Lessig that addresses technology and freedom.

  3. Barack Obama’s Plan for America
    http://www.barackobama.com/pdf…

    <

    p>This is 64 pages of Red Meat. Dig in! Dissect! Discuss!

    <

    p>For faces to policy go here.On the right hand margin is a group of videos that were done in NH.

    <

    p>Real people. Real solutions.

    <

    p>If yo have specific questions about Veterans Issues, you can reach me at sleeping.giant.stirs (at)gmail.com.

    <

    p>Ne Desit Virtus

  5. Kennedy, Kerry and Patrick have all now endorsed Obama… I hope, for their sakes, Obama actually pulls off an upset and makes it competitive in Mass. Otherwise, if Hillary drills him by 20-30% as it looks like she will, the media is going to have a field day.

  6. If you’re a health care voter, ask yourself who knows health care better at this stage: Ted Kennedy fighting for Obama, or the American Nurses’ Association, which announced today that it’s fighting alongside Hillary:

    <

    p>

    Senator Clinton has shown a commitment to implementing real change in our health care system to ensure high quality, affordable and accessible care. She has also recognized the importance of educating, recruiting and retaining, RNs, and the need to improve the nurse’s work environment which includes addressing safe and appropriate staffing.

    • If we use the flawed MLK/LBJ logic stream that Clinton puked out earlier, I guess we have to go with Sen.Kennedy.

      <

      p>According to Hillary, those in the trenches don’t get it done. The hagard and dedicated members of our government bring home the bacon.

      <

      p>P.S. Fighting nurses is an odd symbol. I would wish my caregiver to be kind, ya know, like a healer.

        • With Hillary, you’re either playing musical chairs or ring-around-the-rosie.

          <

          p>I know where I stand.

          • The phrase refers to the common practice of people viewing the same news through their own personal views.  You’ll see most any Hillary-Obama comparison as hurting Hillary Clinton, while I’ll tend to note the positive for her.  But thanks for bringing your own corner of DailyKos into our humble pasture.  Keep downrating anything that says different!

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