The Kennedy Effect

Sometimes, I'm obliged to say, the mainstream media so loses its capacity to think independently and critically that one wonders quite what it is supposed to be for.

I can't recall in a very long time having had to wade through as much drool as that which has emanated today from the press about Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama. 

It is as though JFK himself had walked through the doors of the US Senate today and laid his hands on St Barack of Illinois.  I don't think we've seen anything like it since John the Baptist spotted  Jesus Christ in the waters of the River Jordan and made a beeline for him.  You won't, of course, find Ted  insisting that he is unfit to do up the strap of Barack's sandals (the tone of the remarks rather suggested, if anything, that it was the other way around) but there was certainly something of a rebirth about it all.

Or perhaps a better Biblical analogy is Ted as Old Simeon in the Temple, raising his eyes to heaven and proclaiming that he was finally ready to go in peace, now that his eyes had at last seen the light to enlighten the gentiles.

Count me unconvinced.

Forgive the curmudgeon in me but what exactly does Ted bring? It is probably a sign of how utterly removed most of the media are from the lives of ordinary Americans that they somehow figure that out there, in Fresno and Jefferson City, in Colorado Springs and Asbury Park, hordes of horny-handed Democrats will have dropped their tools today and marched as one to the ancient call from Camelot, a new spring in their step.

We're told that Kennedy will "deliver" Latino voters to Obama. Sorry, but the days are long gone when members of the Kennedy family were able - through fair means or foul - to drop bucket loads of votes into the right ballot boxes. I hate to say it but my suspicion is that blood is a lot thicker than water in these respects and the outright hostility to Obama from Hispanics on show in Nevada for example is not going to be assuaged by some pleas from a superannuated Kennedy. 

"Si se puede, porque El Ted lo dice", they're all doubtless chanting tonight in the barrio.

And since when did a member of the Kennedy family actually alter the course of a Democratic primary? It seems almost cruel to point it out but Ted couldn't exactly do the job for his own candidacy in 1980 so what do we think he'll really achieve for Obama?

This credulous reporting by the media, this fanciful elevation of the Senate's biggest blowhard into some Olympian figure, throwing down thunderbolts that redirect the destinies of the candidates,  is almost enough to make me feel a bit sorry for the Clintons.

Until I remember that it is the great Clinton Machine that succeeded in subtly turning this contest into a racial tussle with increasingly ugly undertones. And I doubt that they will suddenly find themselves - the safe white candidates - on the losing side.

Comments

[Marl]

Thank you for a common sense approach.
This has been a strange election so far but the pundits haven't helped themselves by dabbling in Obamamania to a ridiculous extent.
Really the only guides to the outcome are the exit poll tea leaves. I think they show:
1) Obama has created a lot of enthusiasm from black voters, new voters, university types, floaters and normal non voters.
2) For the middle and lower end workers who are struggling with the bills and older people who have been through a few presidents, Clinton is the way to go.

[kokakola]

to bad G.W.Bush have to leave, hoping for someone like him!!!!

[S. Britchky]

Many in the U.S. conservative media are saying something similar, but sharply, so what's new here?

[Victoria]

You might be a little misguided in thinking an endorcement for the Lion of the Democratic party as not being extremely significant. The Kennedy's still have intense power and influence across all party's in the US. Even though Senator Kennedy did not get the Democratic ticket himself in 1980, means very little as in just how powerful this family was, is and will continue to be. Senator Obama is the voice of chance. I personally do like Senator Clinton, but find it troublesome that she actually ran for the Senate in NY and won. She never lived in NY before she set her interests on the highest office in the land. Let's face the facts here...She voted for the war in Iraq with Bush and the other social misfits. This was done without the support of the nation they are suppose to be representing. Senator Obama brings forth something incredibly positive and never once did he bend towards invading another country.

[P. Berry - Atlanta, GA]

Great Article,

But, it was very moving to see "Camelot's Lion" to support Barack Obama. If you were in your teens and early twenties in the 60's, you would understand the roaring goosebumps as the "torch" was past to Barack Obama. I TOO BELIEVE HE IS NO JFK, But his mission is the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement for a better working American PERIOD. Whether you believed in the 60's of MLK, JFK, RFK, or LBJ. It don't matter, all of these "Initials" stay in our mind each and every struggle.

For the first time, in 40 years, my grandmother is voting in Alabama! It will be the first time, she will vote for a Black Candidate (Forget Rev. JJ). She still have her "poll tax" receipt from 1962 of $5.00 she had to pay to vote for JFK. She plan to take to the poll as a historic moment!

[Tia Oder]

Great uneasiness about Obama's rise to the top of the democratic party abounds. The establishment across the pond, old guards in his party and insecure people all over shudder at the prospect of a black U.S. president. I can say that, like an onion that's peels to reveal its best bits, events on Super Tuesday will give Obama's supporters the chance to approve his candidature and show the world that he is a force to reckon with. Go Barack!

[Cedric]

You have a point in your argument, Ted Kennedy is no prophet announcing the next messiah. But, I find your reasoning a bit biased. Had it been the opposite, where Ted Kennedy and JFK's daughter would have given "annointment" to the Clintons, people would rave and be delighted about how Hillary is the real vector of change etc, etc.....
So indeed, we should not overblow this endorsement, but let's not minimize it, because in the 200 years+ of the USA, it is the first time that a black candidate who is running for president receives the endorsement of the establishment of a major party. That alone is quite impressive.

[John Chuckman, Toronto, Canada]

I think you much overstate the case, offering a kind of political straw-man argument.

Kennedy's words were impressive. Despite his age and girth and unhappy history, he does have an impressive command of English and he has been consistent on progressive issues.

When he speaks as he did yesterday, it is a fairly big deal. If you don't believe me, go ask Ms. Clinton.

Caroline's also making a public statement is notable. She lives a quiet and purposeful life, generally staying out of politics. So this too was a pretty big deal.

What was truly important here is that Kennedy's endorsement was much solicited by the Clinton Clan, and he turned his back on them.

[Jim Ellis]

Sir,

This endorsement will be a mill-stone around Obama's neck if he makes it to the general election. "Ted Kennedy" has become a code-word for thorough-going liberalism, something that perhaps one out of ten Americans embrace. This will be a liability for Obama when he moves out of the dream world of the Democratic primaries.

[richard jones]

Excellent article. Kennedy means nothing now outside of Mass.,and maybe New England a bit. The laying into the Clinton's has actually helped them and laid the ground for Chelsea's entry into the grwat game as either a senator for New York or Mass.

[Seth]

Growing up in the South in the US, black families always had a picture of JFK and a picture of MLK. We as a people adore the Kennedys- more so than the Clintons.

The significance of the endorsement will be evident later; however, on multiple layers, this is a very important endorsement for ANY Democrat.

Throw as much mud as you have against the Ted Kennedy, the general sentiment is this country has only one royal family- and it is definitely not the Bushies.

[Christopher Hobe Morrison]

"For the middle and lower end workers who are struggling with the bills and older people who have been through a few presidents, Clinton is the way to go."
Yes, and if Clinton gets elected she will give them photo opportunities and symbolism, and her main efforts will be based on her latest idea about what is best for her.

The talking heads last nights were saying that what Ted Kennedy was best at was getting to the sorts of people that Obama was having problems with, such as older union members and more traditional Democrats. Of course everybody knows that Kennedy carries a lot of baggage, and the garbage has started to fly already. But he has also been in the Senate and in politics for a very long time, and he is refuting a lot of the charges that the Clintons have been making against Obama, that he is too inexperienced and so forth.

It's about time people stopped voting for somebody who seems inevitable or as one of my friends said, "for the evil of two lessers", and voted for somebody who is different. Obama may disappoint, but he is less likely to disappoint than anybody else in the field right now.

[Roger]

Ted Kennedy is himself not quite fit to run for President, is he. Not after Chappaquiddick (is that the place?). So what's the big deal about his endorsement? It would have been better for Obama to have run a close second to Hillary the last time round, rather than running a wide gap ahead of her. Now he stands no chance on Super Tuesday. He will be beaten hollow.

[Chicago Reader]

I am one Yank who readily admits the Kennedy mystique is overplayed at times. But, let us not forget that you Brits make quiet a fuss over your royal family in your media. True or false? That said, America’s media does not have a monopoly on incessant blathering spewed across the newspapers and blogs of the world. Case on point: your present article. While you get kudos for taking a different, and admittedly clever, tact, your perception of the post-Kennedy endorsement of Senator Obama is equally subjective and superfluous.

Frankly, the subsequent media frenzy over Hillary Clinton’s tears on the campaign trail far surpasses the “drool” of today. When Hillary cried her narcissistic self-pitying tears, the media all over the globe ran like lemmings to report it. That, sir, was a bigger serving of b*******. Agreed?

[Edward]

Well, I read your article with amusement - quite a lot of rubbish to be honest.

[Lisa]

I agree with your assessment of the "media rapture" over Obama. The language they use---is making the obamania into a religious cult-like movement. The "Messiah" has arrived at last! It makes me want to peuk. Obama fuels it with his own language and attitudes. He brags that he will "transform" the nation. Who the hell does he think he is, anyway? Delegates like Ted Kennedy should not be endorsing any candidate until after the primaries. Anybody who disagrees with Ted will pay less attention to him in the future, and he'll have less sway in the general election. I respect Joe Biden for staying neutral. Now there's a smart guy.

[lawrence Coleman]

I notice Mr. Baker didn't mention Caroline Kennedy's endorsement. Also the fact that this endorsement By Caroline was the first endorsement in her life.

[Emmy]

Clinton can't do anything for the middle and lower end workers who are struggling with the bills and older people who have been through a few presidents, Obama is the solution.

[John]

His problem is not to get ppl to vote for him. There is no diff. really. I think his main problem is the labels Clintons and the media given him like: the orator or the unexperienced or the Black candidate. He might be able to have some maneuver that is usually limited for him as the new guy.

I do not see him the ultimate choice but Clintons are not the solution either.

[David L]

A highly sensible, reasonable article on the primaries (and I haven't seen many of those in the British press) that usefully cuts through the gullible Obamamania in the US (and perhaps British?) press; truly, I have not seen such frantic Kennedy coverage here in the US since Chappaquiddick.

[Robbie]

I'm an Obama supporter. I'm middle aged, middle class, white and male. I have voted in every election since I was 18. Many of my friends, young and old, will not vote for (another) Clinton. Myself? I have seen a lot of people come and go, but to date I have never seen anyone that excites the electorate like Barack Obama. In fact, if I have to, I'll write-in Obama's name on Nov 4th.

Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama is more about the bad news for the Clintons. They so desperately wanted this and didn't get it. The reason behind why Kennedy chose Obama speaks volumes about how poorly Clinton has allowed her candidacy to drift into negative territory and has come off looking like a "Republican in Democrats clothing". She is not a uniting force and will only hurt the United States.

[Gary]

Could not have said it better myself. What a joke, the whole Obama love train, and old Teddy boy jumpin on. I though Obama was about " CHANGE " ?, and then they wheel out old Teddy? what a joke, C'mon people this was an easy one to see through. And Caroline, oh now this is a revelation, what exactly does she do in politics? has she ever done? She endorsed Obama because her 17 yr. old daughter likes him. I wish John John was still alive, he was the only Kennedy left with any class. And I guarantee would be backing Hillary 110 %. Shame on you Caroline and Ted.

[Luke Balleny]

The significance of Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama is two-fold. Firstly, he is widely seen as the father figure of the Democratic party (particularly of its left and centre-left leaning adherents). He is hugely experienced and highly respected by both Democrats and Republicans.

Secondly, the continuing impact of the Kennedy's on American politics and Democratic politics in particular should not be underestimated. Like many modern icons, the fact that both JFK and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated while still relatively young has meant that they have remained in people’s minds as forever young, vibrant and exciting politicians. Their messages of hope and rejuvenation were never given the chance to be smothered by political realities and so their images have remained relatively untarnished. A good comparison would be to Tony Blair. He began his time as Prime Minister bringing that same message of hope and rejuvenation but because he stayed as long as he did, and because he and his party got embroiled in sleaze and Iraq (amongst other things), he became just another tired, old politician. Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama effectively cements the comparisons that have already been made between Barack Obama and the Kennedy’s thereby reflecting some of their light and the goodwill that Americans feel towards them onto Obama.

[Dawn]

I am not one of those younger voters. I am one of the voters who is about to retire and is worried about social security and health care, not just for me but for my children and grandchildren. I am weary of the in-fighting in Washington that stands in the way of progress. I am ashamed of America's image in the world. I am fatigued by the poltical game-playing and selling the Lincoln bedroom for contributions. I am for Obama and even more so after these past two weeks of Bill and Hillary playing an ugly brand of politics.

[Paul]

The scene from American University yesterday was unlike anything I have seen in over 20 years. Obama supporter or not, you have to admit the sheer energy inside that hall literally brought JFK's spirit into the room. No matter what the outcome, it was a spectacular moment in political history.

[Mare]

Obama is gathering momentum from the older white voters including women. The enthusiasim is something to hear! Get down in the streets where people pay little attention to polls and hang up on pollsters!

[James]

Indeed, Obama is really a candidate for the elitist, nothing more than that.

[Fortnoy Amnestoy]

Wonderfully insightful article!
Wow! Ted Kennedy's impotence aside, I'm Voting for
Obama simply because it is SO obvious that he is the right person, at Precisely the right time in history.
Hillary by contrast has shown her true colors now.
I was once a Hillary Supporter, but no more.
She represents everything I'd like to see changed.
Phony, Nasty, and Ugly. and I AM NOT talking about her looks. or the fact that's she's a women. I'd vote for the governor of Kansas or Michelle Obama before I'd vote for the bad news Hillary.
Barak is PLENTY smart and capable enough. and he represents something better in all of us.

[George]

Come on guys, you can talk all you want. So far, the votes show that Obama is not just shouting out there. He is getting the votes and even in New Hampshire and Nevada his losses to Hillary were narrow. He may eventually lose to Hillary but you are dismissing him as just chaff and nothing more. He is clearly showing that he is getting substantial support from a wide spectrum of American society who are not just thrilled by his rhetoric but see him as today's JFK. You remind me of those people who were partying in the Raffles Hotel when the Japanese were already at the doorsteps of Singapore......so cocksure of your own invincibility. By the way, I have nothing against Hillary. She will make a great President.

[jim, sydney, australia]

Why Obama would want to be seen as the new JFK should rightly defy logic, apart from the obvious fact that the American public remains in starry-eyed awe of the magnetic appeal of the beauty and power embodied in the JFK myth. They remember the oft played snippets of famous speeches, the rhetoric, promises and glamour. They happily forget the blatant infidelity and reported countless, weekly, immoral one night stands with hookers or groupies, not just passively ignored by his close circle, but organised for him by his staff, at his instigation. His supposed venereal disease, and his use of drugs like amphetamines. The gangster links with the likes of Sam Giancana. The relentless use of family money to buy political support, followed by vested-interest policies and appointments for political and business paybacks. His constant lying to the public about his foreign policy plans and decisions. His immoral use of overt and covert action in pursuing American interests in Central and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa, with little knowledge of what would be best for the local populations, and with scant or no regard for the best interests of the locals. His "black and white" prejudice against all politicians with any socialist, left of centre leanings, with no shades of difference allowed within his narrow-minded framework. His use of assassination, espionage, sabotage, warfare, blockades and blackmail in achieving his world political objectives.

Like many of his time JFK held the common free world sentiment, after WW2 and the evils of Stalinist expansion, that fighting communism in any form, anywhere in the world, justified any means to achieve the ends of victory. However, if the glitz of the JFK illusion is peeled back what remains partly on show is the ugly use of power by someone brought up to believe he was born to rule a US supposedly given a God-directed mission to run the world.