Kennedy fires up Oakland crowd in support of Obama

[book_worm]

OAKLAND
SENATOR Edward Kennedy brought a packed house to its feet in cheers Friday by urging support for Barack Obama, whom he said represents the youthful vigor and hope that his own elder brothers embodied decades ago.

"Helloooooo, East Bay!" he rumbled upon taking the microphone, rousing perhaps 1,400 Obama supporters filling Beebe Memorial Cathedral on Telegraph Avenue.

"Are you glad to see me? I'm glad to see you!"

Kennedy, 75, who endorsed Obama on Monday — ahead of nextweek's Super Tuesday primaries — said his relatives have been coming to the East Bay since 1959 seeking votes and support, and have never left disappointed. This year, he said, we face "an election of enormous importance and consequence, perhaps the most important election of my lifetime."

Obama's candidacy provides a chance to continue the forward motion America has made from the civil rights movement through the battles for equality for women and gays and lesbians, Kennedy said, a chance "to electrify this nation and get us back to the march of progress."

With Congress now locked in partisan bickering over issues from economic stimuli to electronic surveillance, he said, "We have to be liberated. We need Barack Obama."

And echoing the words of his elder brother, John F. Kennedy, at the 1961 presidential inauguration, Kennedy said Obama's candidacy marks a reinvigoration of citizen engagement and activism.

"I think you're ready to do something for


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your country," Kennedy told the crowd.

http://origin.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_8149644

[msongs]

1. he left a woman to die in his car while he tried to cover it up - yes, let's cheer him

sorry, but my family values system disallows leaving someone to drown then attempting to cover it up after the fact simply because he is a rich and famous kennedy - I cannot "cheer" him for any reason.

Msongs

[movonne]

2. Too bad...the Kennedy family has done much for this country...If

had given his endorsement to hillary would you still say the same thing...

[AX10]

3. ......

He should have gone to jail for Manslaughter.
I consider Ted's work on behalf of working people and minorities to be penance for his past sins.