Kennedy: Obama can ‘make America good again’

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said in his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama on Monday that the Illinois senator “truly has the power to inspire and make America good again, from sea to shining sea.”

All of the Democratic candidates had vied for the support of Kennedy, one of the biggest names in American politics, and getting the endorsement is a major win for Obama.

{mosads}Kennedy said he chose the Illinois senator because he “inspires me” and is someone “who can lift our vision and summon our hopes and renew our belief that our country’s best days are still to come.”

Kennedy also praised Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) to applause and scattered boos at an event at American University in Washington, D.C.

“Whoever is our nominee will have my enthusiastic support,” the Massachusetts senator said. “Let there be no doubt: We are all committed to seeing a Democratic president in 2008.”

However, Kennedy lifted Obama above his competitors.

“He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past,” Kennedy said. “He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in, without demonizing those who hold a different view.”

This statement is a swipe at former President Bill Clinton, who has attacked Obama on the campaign trail. Kennedy was reportedly displeased with seeing such broadsides from a former chief executive on a fellow Democrat.

He returned to the theme later in the endorsement speech.

“We know the true record of Barack Obama,” Kennedy said. “There is the courage he showed when so many others were silent or simply went along. From the beginning, he opposed the war in Iraq. And let no one deny that truth.”

Bill Clinton had said there is little difference in Obama’s position on Iraq compared to his wife’s.

The Massachusetts senator likened Obama to his brother, former President John F. Kennedy.