作者swallow73 (swallow73)
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標題[新聞]Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Bill Clinton Plea
時間Mon Jan 28 12:56:57 2008
雖然早在一月上旬Obama就得到2004年民主黨總統參選人,現任麻州參議
員John Kerry的公開支持,不過根據Survey USA在1/22-23採樣做的民調,
Clinton還是以59%大幅領先Obama的22%.現在麻州另一外參議員,民主黨
大老Edward M. Kennedy也出來支持Obama,並打算積極為Obama助選,此舉
恐怕會壓縮Clinton在東北角的優勢.
除了在S.C大潰敗之外,Clinton陣營的負面選戰策略也激的像Kennedy這樣
的重量級人士出馬在Super Tuesday前為Obama四處征討,付出的代價恐怕已
超出想像.
The New York Times
Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Bill Clinton Plea
By JEFF ZELENY and CARL HULSE
Published: January 28, 2008
http://0rz.tw/7e3Bs
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Senator Edward M. Kennedy, rejecting entreaties from the
Clintons and their supporters, is set to endorse Senator Barack Obama’s
presidential bid on Monday as part of an effort to lend Kennedy charisma and
connections before the 22-state Feb. 5 showdown for the Democratic
nomination.
Candidate Topic PagesMore Politics NewsBoth the Clintons and their allies had
pressed Mr. Kennedy for weeks to remain neutral in the Democratic race, but
Mr. Kennedy had become increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the Clinton
campaign, aides said. He and former President Bill Clinton had a heated
telephone exchange earlier this month over what Mr. Kennedy considered
misleading statements by Mr. Clinton about Mr. Obama, as well as his
injection of race into the campaign.
Mr. Kennedy called Mr. Clinton Sunday to tell him of his decision.
The endorsement, which followed a public appeal on Mr. Obama's behalf by
Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, was a blow to
the Clinton campaign and pits leading members of the nation's most prominent
Democratic families against one another.
Mr. Kennedy, a major figure in party politics for more than 40 years, intends
to campaign aggressively for Mr. Obama, beginning with an appearance and
rally with him in Washington on Monday. He will be introduced by Ms. Kennedy.
Mr. Kennedy then heads west with Mr. Obama, followed by appearances in the
Northeast. Strategists see him bolstering Mr. Obama's credibility and
helping him firm up support from unions and Hispanics, as well as the party
base.
The endorsement appears to support assertions that Mr. Clinton's campaigning
on behalf of his wife in South Carolina has in some ways hurt her candidacy.
Campaign officials, without acknowledging any faults on Mr. Clinton's part,
have said they will change tactics and try to shift Mr. Clinton back into the
role he played before her loss in the Iowa caucuses, emphasizing her record
and experience.
Mr. Kennedy, of Massachusetts, has worked closely with Mrs. Clinton, of New
York, on health care and other legislation and has had a friendly
relationship with both Clintons, but associates said he was intrigued by Mr.
Obama’s seeming ability to inspire political interest in a new generation.
For his part, Mr. Obama actively courted Mr. Kennedy for several years,
seeking him out for Senate advice and guidance before making the decision to
enter the presidential race.
Mr. Kennedy had been seriously considering an endorsement for weeks — a
break with his traditional practice of staying clear of primaries.
He remained uncertain of his decision as late as the middle of last week.
But, according to allies, when he learned that his niece's endorsement would
appear as an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times on Sunday, he decided to
bolster that with his own public embrace of the campaign at a joint rally at
American University in Washington on Monday, giving Mr. Obama, of Illinois a
potentially powerful one-two Kennedy punch.
As Mr. Obama flew here on Sunday, he smiled when asked about his new wave of
support from the Kennedy family.
“For somebody who, I think, has been such an important part of our national
imagination and who generally shies away from involvement in day-to-day
politics to step out like that is something that I'm very grateful for,”
Mr. Obama said of Caroline Kennedy's support. Ms. Kennedy declined requests
on Sunday to discuss her endorsement.
Trying to dilute the impact of the twin endorsements by the brother and
daughter of the late president, the Clinton campaign on Sunday issued a
statement of support from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former lieutenant
governor in Maryland and a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy.
“I respect Caroline and Teddy's decision, but I have made a different
choice,” Ms. Townsend said in her statement, adding: “At this moment when
so much is at stake at home and overseas, I urge our fellow Americans to
support Hillary Clinton. That is why my brother Bobby, my sister Kerry, and I
are supporting Hillary Clinton.”
But two years ago, Ms. Townsend’s mother, Ethel Kennedy, referred to Mr.
Obama in an interview as “our next president” and likened him to her late
husband.
The Kennedy endorsement grants Mr. Obama, who has been framed by the Clintons
as being short on experience, the approval of one of the Senate’s senior
members.
Before the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Kennedy had planned to stay out of the race,
largely because he had so many friends in the contest, chiefly Senator
Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut. He also said he was waiting for one of
the candidates to spark a movement.
“I want to see who out there is going to be able to inspire not only our
party, but others, because I think we're going to need the inspiration in
order to bring a change in American foreign policy and domestic policy,” Mr.
Kennedy said last year on ABC News's “This Week.”
After Mr. Obama won the Iowa caucuses, associates to both men said, Mr.
Kennedy concluded that Mr. Obama had transcended racial lines and the
historical divisions the Kennedy family had worked to tear down. Mr. Kennedy
was also impressed at how Mr. Obama was not defined as a black candidate, but
seen as a transformational figure.
It was then, associates said, that Mr. Kennedy began talking with his
children, nieces and nephews, including Caroline Kennedy, who had reached her
own judgment some time ago independently of her uncle. They then agreed last
week to move ahead with their endorsements, coordinating their decision
before the Feb. 5 contests.
Mr. Kennedy has a long history of working with the former president and Mrs.
Clinton on health, education and other social issues and, according to his
associates, has a good relationship with both. While the Clintons were in the
White House, the families socialized and sailed off Cape Cod.
Mr. Obama courted Mr. Kennedy as well, using late-night sessions in the
Senate to get some tutoring about the intricacies of the institution.
Conversations about the White House began more than a year ago, with Mr.
Obama paying Mr. Kennedy a visit to seek his thoughts about whether he should
run for president. Mr. Kennedy told him that he should because such
opportunities rarely come along.
On the night of Mr. Obama's national political debut at the Democratic
National Convention in 2004, he was preceded on stage by Mr. Kennedy, a
symbolic bookend of the party’s dean and its new generation.
A year later, near the end of Mr. Obama's first year in the Senate, Ethel
Kennedy asked him to speak at a ceremony for her husband's 80th birthday. At
the time, she referred to Mr. Obama as “our next president.”
“I think he feels it. He feels it just like Bobby did,” Mrs. Kennedy said
in an interview that day, comparing her late husband's quest for social
justice to Mr. Obama's. “He has the passion in his heart. He's not selling
you. It’s just him.”
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◆ From: 122.127.70.206
※ 編輯: swallow73 來自: 122.127.70.206 (01/28 13:00)
推 haxioujin:講實在現在也才初選 而且兩黨最終候選人未敲定 01/28 13:00
推 haxioujin:就搞得好像已經要勝選了 美大選還真是有夠熱烈 XD 01/28 13:01
※ 編輯: swallow73 來自: 122.127.70.206 (01/28 13:03)
推 haxioujin:我是看得很平淡 反正我也沒什麼能力左右 XD 01/28 13:02
※ 編輯: swallow73 來自: 122.127.70.206 (01/28 13:06)
※ 編輯: swallow73 來自: 122.127.70.206 (01/28 13:07)
推 yeh67:民主黨分裂就繼續在野吧 01/28 13:09