Obama echoes Kennedy in graduate speech

After days of hammering at Republican rival John McCain, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama struck a conciliatory note and urged unity in service of a greater good in a speech to college graduates.

Mr Obama was filling in for Senator Edward Kennedy, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour last week and had planned to deliver the graduation address at Wesleyan University.

Mr Kennedy has endorsed Mr Obama in the nominating contest against Hillary Clinton and has campaigned for him.

“We may disagree as Americans on certain issues and positions, but I believe we can be unified in service to a greater good. I intend to make it a cause of my presidency, and I believe with all my heart that this generation is ready and eager and up to the challenge,” Mr Obama told the graduating class of 2008.

The Illinois senator peppered his speech with references to the Kennedy legacy: John F. Kennedy urging Americans to ask what they can do for their country, the Peace Corps and Robert F. Kennedy talking about people creating “ripples of hope”.

In Puerto Rico, where she hopes for a big primary victory June 1, Mrs Clinton told churchgoers that faith has sustained her through her arduous and faltering duel with the ascendant Mr Obama.

Mrs Clinton is trailing Mr Obama and has almost no chances of getting the nomination. Some prominent Democrats have been calling for her to step down, fearing that a protracted nomination battle might ruin the party’s changes in the November general election.

The latest to do so was former President Jimmy Carter, who said during an interview with Sky News in London that Mrs Clinton should abandon her battle by early June.

But former first lady spoke of her determination to stay in the race despite trailing Mr Obama, who picked up three more superdelegates in Hawaii on Sunday, giving him a total of 1,977 delegates, just 49 delegates short of the 2,026 needed to clinch the nomination. Mrs Clinton has 1,779.

Republican nominee-in-waiting Mr McCain turned his attention this weekend to the search for a vice presidential running mate.

He was hosting at least three potential running mates at his Sedona, Arizona, home – Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is of Indian descent, and his former key rival, ex-Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.