Kennedys hail Obama

Barack Obama stood alongside a trio of former president John F Kennedy’s family members as he was hailed as the man who could change America, reinvigorate the American Dream and “turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion” today.

The 46-year-old first-term Illinois senator, fresh from a landslide victory over Hillary Clinton in South Carolina at the weekend, won the significant endorsements from two generations of the Kennedy family as his campaign builds momentum ahead of the crucial Super Tuesday elections next week.

Mr Obama is the man who refuses to be trapped in the past, who rejects “the counsels of doubt and calculation” and who can renew Americans’ belief that the country’s best days are still to come, the former president’s daughter, younger brother and nephew said.

In an enthusiastic speech, Mr Obama said that a victory for his campaign would “change the course of history” and create a glow that would “light the world”.

Thanking the Kennedys, Mr Obama said: “I stand here today with a great deal of humility. I know what your support means.

“I know the cherished place the Kennedy family holds in the hearts of the American people and that is as it should be because the Kennedy family more than any other has always stood for what’s best about the Democratic party and what’s best about America…they stood by the idea that each of us can make a difference.”

He added that he wanted to “focus on lifting the country up, rather than tearing the opponents down” and said the race to his party’s nomination, and to the White House, was about “the past versus the future”.

Earlier, speaking at the rally at American University in Washington, DC, Senator Edward Kennedy, John F Kennedy’s younger brother, said: “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.”’

He echoed Caroline Kennedy, the former president’s daughter, who said Americans “want a president who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again.”

Mr Kennedy also appeared to criticise the Clinton campaign and their message of experience over change.

“He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past,” Mr Kennedy said.

“Now, with Barack Obama, there is a new national leader who has given America a different kind of campaign – a campaign not just about himself, but about all of us.

“A campaign about the country we will become, if we can rise above the old politics that parcels us into separate groups and puts us at odds with one another.

“What counts in our leadership is not the length of years in Washington, but the reach of our vision, the strength of our beliefs, and that rare quality of mind and spirit that can call forth the best in our country and our people.

“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion.

“With Barack Obama, we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.”

Mr Kennedy said Mr Obama had “lit a spark of hope amid the fierce urgency of now” and added: “I know he’s ready to be president on day one.”