Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, the last of the legendary Kennedy brothers and keeper of the torch of legacy who is battling a brain tumor, surprised ’em and wowed ’em at the Democratic convention — appearing after a day of speculative reports in what could be his last hurrah in front of a huge national convention crowd.
There were two key strands in this appearance.
One: Kennedy’s content, where he was basically-reaffirming his passing of the torch for the Kennedy family to likely-Democratic-Party-nominee Sen. Barack Obama amid reports that Obama is still facing problems from the Clintons. Second: the sight of seeing Kennedy, one of the happiest of political happy warriors, get up looking perhaps a bit slower and heavier but maintaining his bemused chuckle as the camera caught members of his family with tears in their eyes. If his delivery was a mite more halting than usual and he delivered less of a stem-winder, he delivered his point.
An early wire story describes it this way:
“It is so wonderful to be here and nothing was going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight,” Kennedy said, his voice strong and clear.
Despite his bleak prognosis, he said he had this to say: “I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the United States Senate.”
Kennedy spoke out strongly in support of Barack Obama, comparing the presidential hopeful to his brother, slain U.S. president John F. Kennedy.
“We are told that Barack Obama believes too much in an America of high principle and high endeavor,” he said. “But when John Kennedy thought of going to the moon he didn’t say, ‘It’s too far to get there, we shouldn’t even try.'”
“Today an American flag still marks the surface of the moon.”
It was a symbol in a day full of symbols for three sometimes-at-odds families. The New York Times put it this way:
Neither family wanted it this way, neither the Kennedys nor the Clintons. But the opening of the Democratic convention on Monday brought a stark contrast: a bittersweet public celebration of the life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is suffering from brain cancer, and an embittered private drama about the terms on which the Clintons would yield the party to Senator Barack Obama.
Mr. Kennedy, who endorsed Mr. Obama in January, had hoped to lead a hearty, full-throated night of anointing the next generation. Instead, the tribute to him took on the weight of a farewell to the last of the storied Kennedy brothers, with an intensity that rivaled the excitement around Michelle Obama’s anticipated speech about the Democrats’ next standard-bearer, her husband.
As one political dynasty is celebrating its legacy and ceding the political stage on Monday night, the other dominant family of the Democratic Party is struggling to protect its legacy and accept its own exit from the spotlight. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton had once hoped this convention would be theirs, an exultation of past and future Clinton White Houses. Instead, they were coming face to face with shrunken, supporting roles.
And, if press coverage focused on the problems the Clintons were allegedly causing Obama, the Times notes that it wasn’t a stellar day for Hillary Clinton, either.
Frustrations abounded most pointedly for Mrs. Clinton: at a breakfast with New York Democrats on Monday morning, she was forced to rebut a new television advertisement for Senator John McCain that used her past attacks on Mr. Obama against him. And she faced questions around the convention site, from allies and reporters, about comments from Clinton friends that Mr. Clinton remained aggrieved from the bruising primary battle and was unhappy with his speaking assignment at the convention.
At one point she told aides that the Obama campaign could end the bad blood with her husband by simply acknowledging his policy accomplishments and efforts at racial reconciliation in the 1990s — in amends for what the Clintons saw as a lack of respect from Mr. Obama during the primaries. One aide, recounting this conversation on Monday, observed that Mrs. Clinton was in an old role, looking out for her husband while trying to protect her own future.
But this touching night in history belonged to Teddy Kennedy. Andrew Sullivan writes:
This was the last roar of a rumpled lion, made through the obvious pain of sickness, and clearly rousing for the base. The speech was a little abstract and a little reminiscent of previous Kennedy orations. But there was no mistaking this moment: the Kennedy mystique passed on to this young senator. And when you recall the Kennedy legacy on race, you cannot help but be moved by this week and this moment. He was much more on point than I expected; and much more composed. Whatever you believe about his politics, this was a poignant moment, and the convention effectively began.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.