Kennedy’s Video and Speech Were Moving, But Will They Help Heal His Party?

When it comes to rallying the faithful, the Democrats have none better than the liberal lion, Sen. Edward Kennedy (Mass.). For anyone who has followed Kennedy’s career — or even those Republicans who raised money off of his name every cycle — it was good to see Kennedy appear healthy, his voice booming as ever.

It’s hard to dismiss the impact of the tribute video produced by Ken Burns or the emotional nature of Kennedy’s remarks and his very appearance at the convention. The images of Kennedy teaching the younger generation how to steer a ship were poignant, demonstrating how important family is to the patriarch of America’s most important political family.

The video’s ship-as-Democratic-Party metaphor is obvious. It also raises the question: Is Barack Obama ready to steer the ship?

Many in the Democratic Party still do not believe so, and after a night of “Unity,” many Hillary Clinton supporters remain angry.

* South Carolina state Sen. Robert Ford, an African-American supporting Clinton, put it bluntly: “Party unity? That’s national media crap.”

* Maryland delegate Mary Boergers, sporting two Hillary Clinton buttons, told The Washington Post, “I find it perplexing that they make us feel like outliers or rogues because at the convention we plan to vote for the candidate we were elected to vote for.” Boergers also called Barack Obama’s selection of Joe Biden over Hillary Clinton “offensive.”

* Most famously, James Carville told CNN, “If this party has a message, it has done a hell of a job of hiding it tonight.”

Sen. Kennedy knows the cost of a divisive, bruising primary all too well. After losing to Jimmy Carter, Kennedy told the 1980 Democratic Convention of a “vision that will feel and heal the suffering of our time and the division in our party.”

Kennedy may have ended up losing the primary but winning the battle; for it is his history that is much of the Democratic Party’s history and it was Kennedy who was feted by the party faithful last night, while Carter, according to the convention schedule, only received an “acknowledgment.”

And yet even a fiery speech by the Democrats’ “Orator-in-Chief” may not be enough to heal a party so deeply divided.