The Kennedy endorsement is about wresting power in the Democratic party away from the Clintons. It’s partly bandwagon-jumping, partly a calculated judgment that an Obama candidacy has a better chance to contribute to the overall longterm health of the Democratic party. Despite the caricature that right-wingers have promoted of Kennedy for decades, he is willing to compromise in order to get things done, as his work with Bush, Romney and Hatch on Education and Health shows. Kennedy has come to the conclusion that Obama will be best positioned to make concrete achievements on issues that are priorities for him.

Obama already has the young voters and the voters primarily motivated by change. But to win the primary, he needs to win more older voters, more establishment Democrats, and more of the people who are concerned about his lack of experience. Getting an endorsement from the Kennedys (the ultimate establishment Democrats) and from Ted Kennedy himself (who is an incredibly experienced legislator) helps him among those voters.

Also, of course, the Kennedys remind many people (particularly older Democrats) of a golden age of optimism and a president who could actually inspire and lead the country.

I’m with MCQ, I don’t think anyone cares what he brings to the Obama message, they care about his clout. Traditionally he has heavily campaigned for his choice of Presidential candidate, running around the Eastern states asking for votes. He will also help influence Democratic Superdelegates. There is more than one pundit that believes Kennedy is one of the main reasons Kerry ended up getting the nomination four years ago.

He doesn’t carry any weight with me, but he seems to carry a ton with old-school Democrats in the East.

Kennedy’s endorsement (both the Senator and Caroline Kennedy’s) show that the “experience” issue that many fight him about doesn’t matter as much. If the very experienced Ted Kennedy is okay with the not nearly as experienced Sen. Obama, than we should be to. At least, that’s my thinking behind this.

Bill – good point – Kennedy and Hatch seem to be good buddies.

anna – that makes a lot of sense, it will be interesting to see if that shifts the dynamic in Massachusetts from Hilary to Obama

jjohnsen/McQ – interesting thoughts. I guess I really don’t care who endorses who, except when I view it as a negative (as in this case).

anon/Stephen M – that is a fair argument. Hilary left at the alter.

I think the underlying anger in this race is a little disappointing. Last night you saw Hilary and Obama essentially pretend the other did not exist although they were two feet from one another. Not the kind of thing you want to see between two Dems – of course, I am happy to let the Repubs kill each other

I don’t see the logic behind Kennedy’s vaunted Hispanic draw. Kennedy has no significant hispanic contingent in his constituency, so any support that he has is going to be very soft. Insofar as Kennedy is a national figure, he’s as divisive as the Clintons. The only thing that Kennedy gives Obama is someone to do the dirty work of negative campaigning against the Clintons, so that Obama himself can keep his hands clean.

Great post, Devyn.

Speaking of white male Democrats, I thought Bill Clinton’s anti-Reagan campaigning was pretty stupid. A lot of people love Reagan, probably three times as many as love Bill Clinton. Who’s he going to take on next? “Me and Hillary are bigger than Jesus.”

Forgive me for being so dense, but can someone explain why Kennedy helps with the Latino vote?

The Kennedy family, perhaps especially Ted, has long been known for their support of Latino labor unions and years ago, Ted’s brother Robert marched with Cesar Chavez. Even more relevant, though, is Kennedy’s advocacy of immigration reform, an area Obama is specifically singling out as one of the key differences between he and Clinton.

If Ted Kennedy has so much clout, how come he couldn’t beat Jimmy Carter when inflation was in double digits and Americans were being held hostage in Tehran?

Here’s something from the last presidential race:

And on Friday, Ted Kennedy will be in town to campaign for his fellow Massachusetts senator. I suspect the Kennedy name still has some magic here for longtime Democrats. Retired Judge Art Encinias used to tell stories about going into homes in Rio Arriba County with pictures of three people on their walls — Jesus Christ, John F. Kennedy and former state Sen. Emilio Naranjo.

I think a Kennedy endorsement for Obama is surprising. It raises eyebrows and gets Kennedy (positive) attention. This is good for Kennedy – or good for his ego. It makes him momentarily ‘relevant’ …

I think if he gave his support to the Clintons that it would get a very ho-hum not-so-big-a-deal reaction. It is what people would have expected.

It’s probably the difference between being on the front page of the newspaper for one instead of two days.

I kind of got a kick out of the newspapers and news outlets saying that Kennedy was going to give his endorsement to Obama, before it happened. Why the pre-endorsmenet anouncement before the endorsement announcement? It was really silly – but maybe from a politican’s standpoint it’s two-and-a-half days of his name in the news instead of just two days.

We are heavily Republican on this blog?

Kennedy’s clout with the hispanic voters will be especially critical in getting those key delegates from California. Perhaps one of the most important things in getting the nomination, and Kennedy’s political network and active campaigning for Obama could potentially be huge in that regard. Of course, he may just leave it at the speech and don’t be terribly active in campaiging – that remains to be seen.

I’ve always been quite dubious of the Kennedy mythos and of the baby-boomers who worship their memory… However, the one thing you can say about this particular chess move is that the dynasty has succeeded created a media meme. Their weight at this moment — right after Bill Clinton made his very unfortunate Jesse Jackson remark — created the media narrative that the Democratic establishment is turning on the Clintons.

Potentially this could affect the national numbers for Obama going into Tsunami Tuesday. If so, that’s among the more impressive political manuevers that old man Kennedy has been able to accomplish.

Either way, we haven’t totally resolved this campaign yet.

Dan,

A partisan hack is someone who consistently and dogmatically advocates one particular view or position, regardless of the facts (e.g., Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh). Brooks is not in that camp.

Anyway, I’m glad you liked it.

Bill why do you think Edwards helps Obama? It seems to me the opposite. Edwards was splitting the Obama vote. I think more Edwards supporters will break for Obama than Clinton.

Key question about Edwards – is he going to do a deal with Hilary or Obama? I think his support could make the difference and he could be the “kingmaker”

There were rumors that in return for his support, Edwards would be offered Attorny General in an Obama cabinet, but those were never confirmed.

Last week reminded me of an old anti-Clinton bumper sticker: “I didn’t vote for him … or her either.” The Democrats were reminded that if you take one of the Clintons, you get the other one whether you want him or not.