MONDAY
E-mail a friendSen. Edward Kennedy
airdate January 28, 2008
Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy was one of the Democratic Party's most influential members. Named, in '06, on Time magazine's list of "America's 10 Best Senators," he authored more than 2,500 bills on a wide range of issues, including voting and civil rights, healthcare, labor and education. He chaired the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Kennedy also wrote a children's book, My Senator and Me, a political history, America Back on Track, and before his passing, a soon-to-be-released memoir, True Compass.
Tavis asks why so many white, male senators support Barack Obama while the majority of the Congressional Black Caucus supports Hillary Clinton. (2:07)
Massachusetts senator discusses his decision to endorse Sen. Obama for president. Full Interview. (10:52)
Sen. Edward Kennedy
Tavis: Pleased to welcome Senator Ted Kennedy to this program. The distinguished public servant is one of the most respected and influential voices in the U.S. Senate for so many years now. Earlier today he announced his decision to back Senator Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic nomination, and he's kind enough to join us tonight from Capitol Hill. Senator Kennedy, always an honor to have you on, sir.
Sen. Edward Kennedy: Always glad to be back, always glad. And always enjoy it.
Tavis: Glad to have you here. Let me start with a simple question: why Barack Obama?
Kennedy: Well first of all, we have some outstanding candidates with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards as well as Barack Obama. I think their positions on the outstanding issues of our time, about ending the war in Iraq, universal healthcare, what we ought to be doing about the schools, the idea of dealing with the challenges of global warming and many - and our economy, how to get our economy back on track, are very, very similar.
The one overriding issue is which of these candidates can galvanize this country, can galvanize the Democratic party, can galvanize America in order to be able to achieve it, and my sense is that Barack Obama has the ability to bring together young and old, Black and White, people from all different parts of our country, and bring them together, call on the best within them, and get the job done for not just the Democratic party but for our country.
And that's, I think, the overriding and overarching issue that people have to make their mind up who can make the difference.
Tavis: One of the ironies here, at least for me, is that you are one of the long-standing stalwarts, one of the long-standing leaders in the Senate. So clearly, you understand that experience counts for something. It's what allows you to get stuff done every day, your experience in the Senate. And yet that's the argument that Hillary Clinton's been making, experience. Barack Obama, not much, not even a full term as senator. So how did you rank and how did you rate experience in making your choice?
Kennedy: Well, I think he has the experience and the judgment. I'm mindful that Robert Dalek, one of the great American historians, met with really the outstanding American historians, and they were considering which presidents of the former presidents of the United States, how would they rank them and what were the qualities that they had that made them really unusual and made them special in terms of the country.
And the qualities that they look to were: Were they men of judgment? Were they men of vision? Did they have the ability to inspire? Did they have the capability and the character to be able to bring good people to work on the common problems? I see all of these qualities that the great American historians were looking at and evaluating in Barack Obama.
I've worked with him on my committee, for example, and I've worked with him on the floor of the United States Senate on the immigration reform. Barack Obama was there trying to hammer out a responsible immigration bill that would deal with the challenges that we face, but also would have the kind of respect for the Hispanic community that I think that we needed.
Tavis: There are any number of families in this country who are divided in this race, and I found it fascinating, and anybody watching this can see clearly how this got rolled out. So in the "New York Times" on Sunday your niece, John Kennedy's daughter Caroline, makes her endorsement. Today you and Caroline and your son Patrick, a congressman, stand together, and the Kennedy family essentially endorses Barack Obama. Tell me how the dynamics of that works inside the family for the same candidate.
Kennedy: I wish I knew. We have been blessed as a family to believe in public service and also believe in a political party. I believe and share the idea that Woodrow Wilson had that a political party has to stand for something. And I believe that a political party could be an instrument to make change, and that's why I'm a Democrat.
But my parents and my brothers and sisters brought their children up to be involved, to be engaged, to be a part of the process, to share what Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "The actions and passions of our time are a risk not to have lived." So we have many nieces and nephews. Not all of them are necessarily behind one candidate, but I welcome the fact that Caroline talked about inspiration.
The inspiration of Barack Obama. That's really what I feel. We're not against other candidates; we're for Barack Obama. And I hope that people in California and the rest of the country are going to give a chance to listen to Barack Obama, particularly many of our Hispanic friends. I know how they had supported President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy.
Their votes in 1960 permitted President Kennedy to get elected. I think Barack Obama brings this same sense of vision, the same sense of uplift, the same sense of hope, the same challenge to the young people that my brothers brought. And I think he's not just a very good candidate but I think he would really help galvanize our country to begin to deal with the central challenges that we have: restoring our economy, dealing with immigration reform, good healthcare system, investing in our schools and dealing with the problems of global warming.
Tavis: Before I lose you, I want to ask you a question about the president's State of the Union address tonight. I want to ask two other quick questions about Obama, or the campaign, at least, before I get to the State of the Union and I'll let you go there on Capitol Hill.
First of all, I don't know if there's anything here but I'm curious as to your point of view on this, given the position that you hold in the Senate. It occurred to me over the last couple of days, particularly when I heard that you were going to endorse Obama today, it's occurring to me that so many of the powerful White male members of the U.S. Senate past and present are lining up behind Barack Obama.
John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, present members; former members Bill Bradley, Tom Daschle. So, so many White male Democrats lining up behind Barack Obama, and yet on the other side, the majority of the Congressional Black Caucus, of which Obama is a member, the majority, although not by much, has gotten behind Hillary Clinton. Is there anything there?
Kennedy: I don't really think so. I think there's associations and relationships and friendships that are formed, and I think people feel that and express that in some different ways. I have a high regard and a personal friendship with Senator Clinton and President Clinton and I've supported them in the past. But I think what we are looking for now is the inspirational figure, aren't we?
If we have candidates that will do the job on healthcare and do the job in terms of immigration reform, we want to elect the person that could get the job done. And to get the job done, you have to bring people together. And to bring people together, you have to be Barack Obama. Today when I was at American University, 6,000 students out there, students of blacks and browns, young and old students, the joy and the happiness and the belief.
When I went to an event just after the creation of the Peace Corps and I asked the young volunteers why they volunteered, and they said, "It's the first time that anybody had asked us to do something for the country." Barack Obama is asking these young people to do something for the country. He's building from the bottom up, not from the top down, and Barack Obama is that inspirational leader for our time.
Tavis: When your voice matters as much as yours does, do you give any thought to the value of not taking sides in a race this close, a race this tight, a race this controversial?
Kennedy: Well, the good political judgment is why don't you stay on the sidelines? That's how most people - some have said to me, "The Senate would be a great job if we didn't have to vote." (Laughter) This is the question. We are here to make judgments and decisions, and to try and provide some leadership. And to provide some leadership, Massachusetts is going to go to the polls on Super Tuesday and I think the people of Massachusetts are entitled to who I am going to support, and the reasons for it. They should make up their own mind.
I'm one voice, and I'm one vote, but people are entitled to know what I'm going to do and why I'm going to do it. They can make up their own judgment. That's what this whole process is about. This has been an extraordinary experience, this election process to date, and it's a real credit, I think, to the Democratic Party. People have had a chance to see these candidates, to meet them, to greet them, and to take their temperature.
It's strengthened our democracy, but I come back to the (unintelligible) when I finally want to make the judgment and decision, it's going to be with Barack.
Tavis: So finally, let me ask you what you make of what the president's going to tell us tonight. I know as we speak you're about to go to that address. But is there anything the president can say tonight that you want to hear?
Kennedy: Well, my deep concern has been that we have had administration that really failed us on Iraq, brought us into a war. My best vote in the United States Senate was an opposition to that war. Failed in terms of Katrina, failed to provide the body armor for our military personnel, failed our veterans as the Walter Reed scandal, and has really failed our economy, the working families of this country, by failing to understand that we were going to get into this economic slide which has really been devastating in terms of California, my state of Massachusetts and people losing their homes and paying these mortgages that they can't afford.
They're working just as hard. The interesting fact remains we have more than 200,000 people a month that are losing their homes, and the people that are losing their homes now are paying their mortgages just like every other person who's not losing their homes. It's taken too long. We have to turn the page and get an economy that works for Americans, not an economy where Americans work for the economy. That, Barack Obama will do.
Tavis: Senator Kennedy, I thank you for your service and always glad to have you on the program.
Kennedy: Great, thank you.
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