During the second week of January in 2008, members of the Kennedy family came together at Ted and Vicki’s home on the Cape for discussions having to do with the upcoming presidential election. Who they threw their support behind in any election was still an important factor to any American campaign; a strong endorsement from a family as politically powerful as theirs could make all the difference between a win and a loss. The Kennedys, despite all their problems since the days of Jack and Bobby, still had a lot of persuasive power. Certainly, at the very least, Ted had the respect of millions, not to mention the value of what Patrick had contributed while in office. When it came to the presidency, obviously, the stakes were even greater. Certainly having Caroline or any of the other more high-profile Kennedys speaking at the Democratic convention in support of any hopeful pretty much guaranteed, if nothing else, a lot of media attention, a groundswell of base enthusiasm, and maybe even a history-making moment or two. Obviously, Joseph’s progeny didn’t take such decisions lightly. Up for discussion in January, then, were the merits for office of Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. On this issue, as it would happen, the Kennedys would be divided.
Because former First Lady and New York senator Hillary Clinton was a close family friend, three of Ethel’s children—Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby—wanted to support her. They felt she had a strong platform having to do with human rights, especially women’s issues, and she certainly had the experience. The first woman President? How could anyone resist such a proposition, especially when the woman in question had Hillary’s experience in government? They were actually surprised anyone in the family would disagree. It wasn’t so much that they took issue with Obama as much as he simply wasn’t Clinton, and Kathleen, Kerry, and Bobby said they weren’t going to abandon someone who not only was a personal friend but who was obviously best qualified for the job.
Ted wasn’t sure about Hillary. He’d enjoyed a pleasant enough relationship with her over the years but found her, as he put it, “a bit prickly.” For him, it wasn’t so much about policy as it was about personality. Sure, Hillary shared Ted’s and Patrick’s passion for health care reform, which was a plus for her in their eyes. However, both father and son felt that she lacked something vital to winning any important election: personality.
Once, when asked about her uncle’s views about politicians, Maria Shriver observed: “Teddy was on a perpetual campaign his whole life. He so enjoyed people; he was interested in their struggles because he had struggled himself. People admired his human frailties, and he saw that in those who came to him for help. He liked the crowd, he liked talking about his brothers, he liked talking about his parents. Of course, he liked legislating and he liked power. But he also liked parties … and he liked all the people who worked for him on the Hill … and he liked the people he served. He liked everything about it … the whole Irish thing. But it was about people, about communication. I think the thing about Teddy is that whether you agreed with him or didn’t, on a personal level you had to at least like him, which is why he was always able to cross the aisle and be bipartisan.”
Ted felt that, at least in the public arena, Hillary held back; she was reserved, maybe coming across as cold and detached. Also, she didn’t seem like she’d ever struggled or that she could relate to a common man’s challenges. She didn’t appear to be empathetic. Of course, she actually did have empathy and was a smart woman who understood important issues that affected people of all cultures. However, for Ted, the problem was her image and how people perceived her. He felt that she seemed disengaged and over-rehearsed.
Many of Ted’s views about Hillary would be voiced eight years later by other critics of hers when she ran unsuccessfully against Donald Trump for high office. The view of her surprising loss at that time was that it had been because she somehow lacked whatever was needed to galvanize a large swath of America that felt overlooked and disenfranchised. It was thought that Trump had been better able to appeal to that faction. Despite his wealth and the fact that he was a person who’d actually never struggled a day in his life, he was still able to convince millions of voters that he understood their concerns, that he cared about them, and that he, and only he, was the candidate who could provide the solution to their problems. He didn’t have much policy in place, unlike Hillary, who had clear principles on many important issues. He was a bombastic personality, a shoot-from-the-hip kind of man who made a great many promises people weren’t so sure he’d actually fulfill, but that was all he needed to win the presidency. One wonders what Ted would have thought of him. While he would no doubt vehemently disagree with most of his policies, certainly the man elected as the forty-fifth President would have at least been an example of Ted’s notion that personality could sometimes be more important than platform.
Ted liked Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois. He said Obama reminded him of himself and, more important, of Jack and Bobby. Like those Kennedy brothers, Obama was a fiery and eloquent statesman. He had the kind of empathy Ted felt eluded Hillary. He knew how to express himself in a way that felt personal and meaningful. Also to his credit, Obama had important legislation planned having to do with human rights, which he said he fully intended to implement should he be elected.
Just a few weeks earlier, Obama had expressed to Ted his hesitation about running, saying he feared that he needed more seasoning in government before he could be an effective President. Of course, Ted had a long history of vacillating where the presidency was concerned. The job had been his for the taking a number of times along the way. He told Obama that what he’d learned from his own experiences was that timing was everything in politics, and no time was better than the present to make an important decision. “In four years, who knows what things will be like for you, your wife, and your kids?” he warned Obama.
Ethel agreed with Ted: Obama reminded her of Bobby, too; her son Max agreed. Jean Kennedy Smith also said she wanted to support Obama, a difficult decision for her because, after all, Bill Clinton had been the President to name her ambassador to Ireland. Patrick agreed, too; Obama was his man.
One person not present at Ted’s home during the discussion was arguably the family’s most influential tastemaker: Caroline. As the only daughter of the family’s only President, the Kennedys knew that her opinion carried a lot of weight with donors as well as with voters. Unlike Ted, she had no political experience herself, but neither did she have scandals in her past.
Choosing between the two potential candidates put Caroline in a difficult spot because not only did she enjoy a good relationship with Hillary and Bill, but she was also quite friendly with their daughter, Chelsea. However, after careful consideration and a great deal of discussion with Ted, she came to the conclusion that she, too, wanted to stump for Obama. She felt he was an exciting new politician who promised great change from the über-conservative policies of eight dark years of President George W. Bush. Something about the excitement that he generated reminded her of what her father had done for the country back in 1960. Stories of Jack’s appeal were the stuff of legend—this young senator, handsome and dashing but also incredibly articulate, who promised a new kind of America and who appealed to its youth with idealistic notions of personal responsibility and service. Barack was much like Jack, Caroline concluded.
Another reason for Caroline’s interest in Obama was because her children had been telling her for some time that he was someone she should notice. They were young, but Tatiana, Rose, and Jack were Kennedys at heart and did pay attention to what was going on in the world.
With some of the Kennedys set on Hillary and others on Obama, they just had to agree to disagree; past experience had taught them that there was no point in trying to change anyone’s mind, even though a good debate about the issues was not something from which any of them would ever shy away. Later, Maria Shriver would support Obama, whereas her husband, Arnold, would go with his party’s candidate, John McCain. “We can be divided even in a marriage over these things,” Maria would say. “It happens.”
During the third week of January 2008, Caroline and Ted—in separate phone calls—officially informed the Clintons that they were throwing their full support behind Barack Obama. They were difficult conversations, of course.
Kicking off Caroline’s commitment to Obama was an editorial she authored for The New York Times on January 27, 2008, “A President Like My Father.” She wrote: “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 next morning, Bobby Jr., Kathleen, and Kerry would author an editorial of their own in the Los Angeles Times explaining their endorsement of Hillary. In a separate statement, Kathleen said, “I respect Caroline and Teddy’s decision, but I have made a different choice. At this moment, when so much is at stake at home and overseas, I urge our fellow Americans to support Hillary Clinton.”
Later that day, Ted made the official announcement that he, too, was coming out for Obama. Then, Caroline and Patrick stood with him on stage at Bender Arena on the campus of American University in Washington, alongside their chosen candidate. To a cheering audience, Patrick started off by acknowledging that his father had just “shepherded the largest college tuition bill in our nation’s history.” He added, “One of my father’s great achievements is that he lowered the voting age to eighteen.” Applause. “And I can see that all of you are going to make good use of that in this election. Right?” More applause. He continued, “As President Kennedy said, ‘Change is the law of life, and those who look only to that past or present are certain to miss the future.’” He then introduced his cousin, “a proven patriot and inspiration in her own right, Caroline Kennedy.”
As she took the podium, Caroline never seemed more self-assured, more at ease. It was as if she was really coming into her own as a speaker. “Over the years I’ve been deeply moved by the people who told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way they did when my father was President,” she said. “This longing is even more profound today. Fortunately, there is one candidate who offers that same sense of hope and inspiration, and I am proud to endorse Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States.”
After a few more remarks, Caroline began to introduce her uncle. “For more than four decades in the Senate, Teddy has led the fight on the most important issues of our time, civil rights, social justice, and economic opportunity,” she said while surrounded by cheering people holding red and blue placards that read STAND FOR CHANGE and CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN. She continued, “Workers, families, the elderly, the disabled, immigrants, men and women in uniform all have no stronger champion. I know his brothers would be so proud of him. He’s an inspiration to all members of our family…”
When Ted took the mic and started speaking, it was as if some sort of great political God had descended upon the stage; pretty much no one could deliver a speech like the Lion of the Senate. “I feel chaaaaaaange in the air,” he intoned, drawing out the word with a glint in his eye. “What about you?” he asked the crowd, who responded thunderously. “Every time I’ve been asked over the past year who I would support in the Democratic primary,” he continued, “my answer has always been the same. I’ll support the candidate who inspires me, inspires all of us, who can lift our vision and summon our hopes and renew our belief that our country’s best days are still to come. I’ve found that candidate. And I think you have, too. I’m proud to stand with him here today and offer my help, offer my voice, offer my energy, my commitment to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.”
For forty-six-year-old Barack Obama to follow Ted Kennedy on a podium was a big challenge, but he rose to it well. He looked deeply moved:
“I stand here today with a great deal of humility. I know what your support means. I know the cherished place the Kennedy family holds in the hearts of American people. And that is as it should be, because the Kennedy family, more than any other, has always stood for … what is best about America. They’ve stood by the idea that each of us can make a difference and that all of us ought to try, that no frontier is beyond our reach when we are united and not divided, and that those of us who are not content to settle for the world as it is can remake the world as it should be, that together we can seek a new world. No one embodies this proud legacy more than the people we’ve just heard from…”
Following his official announcement, Ted campaigned hard for Barack, using his considerable influence with the media and the public to extol the virtues of a man who, if elected, would be the nation’s first African American president. His support encouraged fearful Democrats that it was worth the risk to come out for Obama, that the time was ripe for change … and that Obama was the man to bring about such change. It would turn out to be the last time Ted would ever be able to use his power and authority to convince his followers to support a candidate he felt most represented Kennedy values and ideals. Soon, everything would change for him, as it would for his entire family.