Kerry says Obama can 'transform' nation
Posted: Thursday, January 10, 2008 2:58 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan
CHARLESTON, SC -- At the College of Charleston here -- far from the snowy fields of Iowa and the leafless trees in New Hampshire -- John Kerry today endorsed Obama for president.
Quoting Martin Luther King, Kerry told the crowd jammed into a courtyard at the college, "The time is always right to do what is right," before beginning a 17-minute-long endorsement of why he has "confidence" to believe that Obama "should be, can be, the next President of the United States."
Saying that it was time for the country to experience "healing" -- a message Kerry said he gave to President Bush when he congratulated him for winning the 2004 election -- the Massachusetts senator told the crowd that Obama had a unique ability to bring people together.
Speaking of his own presidential campaign four years ago, Kerry said that back then he had "committed" himself "to fight for a new era of concern for community and not division. And that he had called President Bush after conceding the election and "warned him of the danger and division in our country and our desperate need for unity."
Kerry commended the other Democrats in the race, saying that each would fight to take the country in the right direction. But he credited Obama with the ""potential to lead a transformation"
Kerry said that the keys to real leadership are judgment and character -- the two words the Obama campaign has said sets their candidate apart. He pointed to the Iraq war, which he had supported but now opposes, and said Obama had been right about it all along.
Kerry also took some of the credit for Obama's speedy rise in Democratic politics. "I'm proud to have helped introduce Barack to our nation when I asked him to speak in 2004. Obviously Barack did all the heavy lifting," he said.
Comparing his international background with Obama's, he said, "Like Barack, I lived abroad as a young man and I share with him a healthy respect for the advantage of knowing other countries and cultures, not from a book or a briefing, but by personal experience, by gut, by instinct," Kerry said.
The thrust of Kerry's message, however, was to add the authority of an elder statesman to Obama's message and address the two main criticism leveled against him: inexperience and that his call for change lacks substance.
Kerry compared Obama's youth to that of Thomas Jefferson's when he was 33 and wrote the Declaration of Independence or Martin Luther King Jr.'s when he lead the Montgomery bus boycott at 26 or gave "The I Have a Dream Speech" at 34.
Taking on the charge of "false hope" raised by Clinton, Kerry compared that idea to innovative ideas put forward by former presidents -- including FDR's call for Social Security, JFK's goal to land on the moon, and Thomas Jefferson's belief in public education.
Obama joined Kerry on the stage and the two exchanged hugs, and he thanked Kerry not only for his endorsement but his service to the country. His remarks were similar to those he gave in New Hampshire two days ago, ending his speech with a resounding, "Yes we can!" that was echoed by the audience.
The endorsement of Kerry may not bring votes to Obama, but it allows him to point to established Washington politicians that can lend his insurgent candidacy an air of legitimacy that some say he lacks because of his limited time in national politics. It also allows Obama to show that major Democratic leaders nationally are not flocking to Clinton's campaign, slightly undercutting any momentum coming out of her win in New Hampshire.
The endorsement may also raise some eyebrows. Critics might point to Obama's criticism of Edwards right before the Iowa contest by leveling the same charge against him that was brought against John Kerry in the 2004 race. "We are less likely also to win an election with somebody who had one set of positions four years ago and has almost entirely different positions four years later," Obama said.
"We've been through that. It's a problem and so if you are concerned with delectability having somebody who has been consistent, who has opposed the war from the start so the opponent can't say he was for the war just like I was," he added.
