What Senator Ted Kennedy endorsing Senator Obama means
Democratic Party, Presidential Candidate
Written by Michael Vass
Well the Clinton political machine seems to have finally got in a pissing match they could not win. Polispeak aside, the endorsement by Senator Ted Kennedy and the Kennedy clan is a massive action. The entire Democratic nomination race may have taken a new direction that no one expected.
The power of the Kennedy family is without question in American politics. They stretch from New England to California. They include Congressmen, Senators, and the Guvernator. Their supporters range in age from the pre-baby boomers to the first time voters that are a force in this election. The name of the family alone has more political clout than most candidates have had.
According to some sources the Clinton machine had been looking to court the Kennedy endorsement. But they assumed too much. With the constant attacks on Senator Barack Obama based on the divisive issue of race, the insult to Dr. Martin Luther King and the slighting of JFK’s role in the Civil Rights movement, and the potential of driving a wedge in the Democratic party separated by race I think the Kennedy’s got fed up.
I have no doubt that all of the above played a part in the decision of JFK’s daughter in endorsing Senator Obama. Then came what may have been the final straw if it’s true. President Clinton supposedly called Senator Ted Kennedy and asked him not to say anything. Which led to 3 Kennedy’s endorsing Senator Obama today.
Arrogance can only take you so far. Manipulation and derogatory comments are only so effective. Especially when the Kennedy political machine spans the nation and decades in public office.
The Northeast is now probably Obama country. California may be a new stronghold. Older Democrats, liberals, poor and all the other categories that the Kennedy name affects, that Hillary Clinton has previously had an edge on, are all in question. The Clintons must be as angered by these events as they are unsure of the win a mere year ago they presumed.
Ted Kennedy’s speech was powerful and clear. He is a Democrat. He will support the nominee of the Party. And he is dedicated to do everything he can to make sure Senator Obama is that nominee.
I’ve said before that I felt Senator Obama might not win. I’ve mentioned that the use of race as a tool to divide the Democratic Party and provide Hillary the win is an effective strategy. I know that the comments by Bill and all the various staffers have angered many. I know the attempts by Bill to minimize the wins of Senator Obama, and a great leader that was Dr, Martin Luther King polarized the Democratic Party. But this was unexpected. This is a wildcard that could be the beginning of a landslide that is enormous.
Will this be close? Of course. Is momentum changing sides? I don’t think it’s stopped since the nominations process started on January 1st. But this is the first time I seriously think that the math and support behind Senator Obama is enough to give him the win.
Regardless of political affiliation or guidelines you may hold, this must be impressive. And you have to say that now, more than ever before, that Rev. Jesse Jackson is not Senator Obama. That 2008 is not 1984. That we may see a Black President and that first Black President will actually be African American.
It’s not exciting because I may or may not agree with Senator Obama, or that I may or may not want/need him to win. Rather it’s exciting because it means that in the highest office, and in the most visceral manner, America is becoming a land of the free and equal. And that is something that I think every American can appreciate and look forward to.
admin @ January 28, 2008
I dont understand Barack’s position on race, He keeps letting himself be procailmed as an african american but yet his parents are different races. Calling himself as only african american just shows he’s playing the race card. He should be honest and say he’s American. Alot of us are multiracial and should be proud because that is what america is about. So here’s a man who could make a stand and show how incrediable it is to be multiracial but yet he plays the race card and wants to be called the first African American President. Think about it!
Derek,
First I want to thank you for your comment.
I too understand what it is to have a multi-faceted background. I am a Black Puerto Rican, born and raised in NYC. This give me some insight to what it may be like as a biracial individual.
My experience has always been that the majority of Americans will judge a person on the color of their skin and the accent from their mouths. I am always approached and referred to as being Black. Whether it’s via the internet, in person, or any other medium. And based on my skin color I am initially treated in a certain manner.
It’s this same initial reaction that is the basis of how Senator Obama is being classified. He is being placed in the most obvious box, and interracial is too complicated and not obvious enough for major media. And it is major media is where Senator Obama has really been isolated to the simple classification of just African American.
It’s the major media that refuses to acknowledge or refer to his biracial heritage. It’s not something that Senator Obama has denied or hidden from. Unlike say some actors that have portrayed themselves as White, Obama has never assumed just one aspect of his heritage. In fact he brought the issue to the fore when he wrote his book.
The Black media and bloggers have focused on his biracial heritage, both as a positive and negative. They fully understand his background, as most American Blacks have a similarly mixed ancestry. But the major media focus only on one aspect, the most obvious one that is immediately identified when you look at the television screen.
Tiger Woods has the same classification. While he may identify himself otherwise, in the major media he is simply Black in the media. It’s what major media does. Boiling down multi-faceted issues to an overly simplified bottom of the barrel common denominator for mass consumption.
But the real issue should not be the heritage of Senator Obama, or any other Presidential candidate. We don’t discuss the heritage of Senator Clinton, or Mitt Romney. We don’t care what the background of President Bush might be. They are immediately identified as White. But that is not a question to the political abilities they may have. But for Senator Obama it is a factor. WHY?
The race card is not something that Senator Obama is playing in accepting what the major media has labeled him as. He can’t fight that labeling – just as Tiger can’t - nor did he create it. But President Bill Clinton and the Clinton campaign has used the race and gender cards in their efforts to promote Senator Clinton. That is a problem. One that I think Ted Kennedy saw and disapproved of.
That is not to say that Ted Kennedy had no other reason to endorse Senator Obama. But I think it would be foolish to not accept that it was a factor in the manner and degree in which the endorsement occurred.
What America is facing in this nomination race is the question of race and ability. Does race preclude a qualified candidate for gaining the nomination? According to some in the Clinton camp the answer is yes. According to some that wrote to the leading South Carolina newspaper after it endorsed Senator Obama the answer is yes. According to some with small minds filled with fear the answer is yes.
Personally I don’t care about race. It does not determine intelligence or ability. It does not preclude the ability to love our nation or act in its best interest. But then again I am a Black Puerto Rican, and have always had to fight against such initial observations. Like most people of color I have always looked beyond color because we live in a nation that is obsessed with it.
So if Senator Obama were to become President I have no problem calling him the first Black President, the first biracial President, or just Americas 43rd President. All are equal and the same. It’s just the media and how it plays on oversimplification and race that changes the title.
Michael Vass
[…] I stated that “The power of the Kennedy family is without question in American politics. They stretch from New E… […]
THE CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICANS BY RACE AND ETHNICITY MUST END
The Racial and Ethnic classification of Americans is nothing more than institutionalized racism and must be ended. The United States of America has been known as a country of rugged individualism based on individual freedom and liberty. Why has America become a country obsessed with classifying its citizens into different racial and ethnic sub-groups?
The only groups that actively support the continued collection of racial and ethnic data are big government bureaucrats and “racial and ethnic special interest groups” that also happen to receive significant funding from the federal government. These organizations argue that identifying people by race and ethnicity is necessary in order to redress some past injustice and that the federal government must continue to collect and use this information in order to set up special racial and ethnic programs, affirmative action quotas and other set-asides for these groups, some of whom consist of new immigrants, illegal aliens and non-citizens. Nothing can be further from the truth. In a country where we can no longer ask people what religion they are, what their party affiliation is or what their sexual orientation is, why are we still asking them about their racial and ethnic background?
Americans are beginning to realize that racial and ethnic identification is more a matter of personal choice than anything else. In the 2000 Census, seven million American citizens refused to place themselves into a single category by refusing to describe themselves as only white, black, Asian, Latino or any one of the other specific categories listed, because they were of mixed race. Attempts by the government to create a “mixed race” box for the 2000 Census was met with resistance by racial and ethnic special interest groups like the NAACP and the National Council of La Raza, because they feared that a mixed-race box could pose a danger to the justification for their existence. The fuzzier such racial and ethnic categories become, the harder it will be for these racial and ethnic special interest groups and the government to traffic in them. If a mixed-race category were to be added, every brown-skinned person of mixed race registered in this category would shrink the government’s official count of Blacks, Latinos, Asians or American Indians, eventually reducing their political influence and ultimately the amount of money these groups receive from the federal government, which amounts to approximately $185 billion a year.
Through the mandated collection and use of racial and ethnic specific information, more and more of American taxpayers’ hard earned money is being routinely distributed to these racial and ethnic special interest groups at the expense of all other Americans who may or may not be members of these groups. Through executive orders, congressional legislation, affirmative action programs, racial set-asides, quotas and other programs based solely on race and ethnicity, our federal government is playing the key role that pits one racial and ethnic group against another, which could eventually lead to our destruction as a country.
Rather than helping a diverse population become assimilated and united as one nation, the Federal government is doing what the Nazi government of Germany did in the 1930’s and 40’s; creating government supported institutionalized racism by the intentional classification of it’s citizens by race and ethnicity.
With the support of racial and ethnic special interest groups, our federal government seems to view our citizens not just as Americans, but rather as “pawns” in some social science experiment to be classified and separated into different racial or ethnic sub-groups for some unknown purpose. By mandating the classification of Americans into specific racial and ethnic sub-groups, the federal government and the advocates of “diversity” are actually perpetuating institutionalized racism and keeping Americans divided. Maybe the real purpose of collecting this data is to justify the continuing flow of government money to these racial and ethnic special interest groups.
If we want to help poor Americans escape poverty, get better health care, find a job or get a good education, why should it matter what their race or ethnic background is? The answer is: It should not! Americans need to come together as members of one country and remember that we are all individual Americans, regardless of race or ethnic background. Martin Luther King, Jr., inspired a nation when he voiced his dream for a color-blind nation, a nation in which people would be judged by the content of their characters, “not the color of their skin.” The answer to this government encouraged racism is the concept of Liberty with a limited, constitutional government that is devoted to the protection of individual rights rather than the claims of different racial and ethnic special interest groups. Where Liberty is present, individual achievement and competence are rewarded, not people’s skin color or ethnicity.
I will support legislation barring the federal government from the collection of racial and ethnic information about the American people and/or the classification of American citizens by race and ethnicity, including the collection of census information. Exceptions should be made for law enforcement, hospitals and medical research purposes.
I will also support legislation that bans affirmative action programs, racial set-asides, quotas and any other programs that give special preferences based on race and ethnicity.
By:
JOHN W. WALLACE
Candidate for Congress
New York’s 20th Congressional District
http://www.FreedomCandidate.com
I’m hispanic, and I strongly believe Obama will have a huge support from most of the minorities citizens and with no doubts he will be the first minority to get in the White House as a president of United State. I predict California, Texas, Florida and New York would be the keys for his victory to Mr. Obama in November 2008.