Caroline Kennedy: Obama would be ‘a president like JFK’

Two members of John F Kennedy's family are publicly endorsing Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. In a moving article in today's New York Times entitled 'A President Like My Father', Caroline Kennedy, who was only five when her father was assassinated in 1963, writes: "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans."

The endorsement, published the morning after Obama's resounding victory in the South Carolina primary, is seen as a huge boost to Obama's chances. And according to the Boston Globe, her uncle Ted Kennedy - JFK's younger brother - plans to come out on Monday with a similar statement.

Caroline Kennedy is the only survivor of JFK's immediate family. His widow Jackie died in 1994 and his son John, Caroline's younger brother, died in a plane crash in 1999. Caroline believes America needs a change of leadership now just as the country did in 1960 when her father won the presidential election.

"Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences," she writes. "However, the candidates' goals are similar... So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual." She believes Obama has demonstrated these qualities both in the Senate and in Illinois where he was an elected state official for eight years.

"Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign... And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

"I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved."

Obama issued the following statement of thanks today: "It's a special privilege to have this endorsement because I've always believed that Caroline's father was one of our greatest presidents."

Meanwhile, confidantes of Ted Kennedy have told the Boston Globe that the veteran Massachusetts senator plans to break his year-long neutrality and support Obama over Clinton too. The paper reports that both Ted Kennedy and Caroline will appear with Obama at a morning rally in Washington tomorrow.

FIRST POSTED JANUARY 27, 2008