Lion Roars Once More In Denver

Edward Kennedy Takes The Stage And Michelle Obama Shows Her Softer Side On Emotional Night

by Kirk Victor

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008


Twenty-eight years ago, Sen. Edward Kennedy rocked the convention in New York City's Madison Square Garden with a speech that was a moving anthem of Democratic principles.

Back then, the senator from Massachusetts was a defeated presidential candidate who had waged a bitter challenge to President Carter. The lawmaker, then 48, ended his speech with powerful words: "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

Robert Shrum, his speechwriter, wrote of that moment in the convention hall: "He was a young lion in winter."

Last night the Democratic lion, now 76, played a different role, though the emotional impact was as powerful as it was in 1980. After his niece Caroline Kennedy introduced a film tribute to him, Kennedy, who is suffering from a malignant brain tumor, appeared on the podium to roaring cheers from the delegates. There were few dry eyes in the hall as even grizzled party veterans -- powerful Old Bulls on Capitol Hill -- watched and even cheered as a youthful generation takes up the mantle of leadership, led by the improbable presidential candidacy of Barack Obama.

Initially appearing to move somewhat gingerly onto the podium with his wife, Vicki, at his side, Kennedy stepped forward, smiled broadly, and waved to the crowd. "Nothing -- nothing, is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight," he declared to still more cheers.

"I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States," he declared in his trademark booming voice.

As the crowd chanted "Teddy, Teddy," the silver-haired lawmaker seemed to get stronger. "For me, this is a season of hope.... This is the cause of my life." He repeatedly rallied the crowd, asking them -- and the American people -- to "rise to our best ideals" in the election.

"Together we have known success and seen setbacks... but we have never lost our belief that we are all called to a better country and a newer world," he said. "I pledge to you that I will be there next January on the floor of the Senate."

The point of his presence, Kennedy said, was to celebrate new leaders on the American stage. Slightly rephrasing a famous line from the 1961 Inaugural Address of his brother, John F. Kennedy, he said, "This November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans."

Then, echoing the words that he delivered to such powerful effect in 1980, Kennedy concluded: "The work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

Of Kennedy's role, Shrum said, "For him it is a joyful passing. Before he was sick, he specifically said it's time for a new generation, and he said that Obama reminded him of his brother. Look, this is a powerful moment in the history of the party."

"Senator Kennedy realized, as I do, that when you have been in this business for a while as a progressive politician, you don't want to retire the trophy," said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "You want to hand it over to the next generation, fresh troops on the field, ready to fight for the things that you have believed in all your life."

Delegates from across the country share those sentiments. For Randi Weingarten, a New York delegate and president of the American Federation of Teachers, Kennedy's appearance was critical to bridging the old and young generations of the party. "The symbolism of taking the torch from the Kennedys and saying it's time to pass it on was remarkable. It was one of the magic moments of the convention."

Within the Massachusetts delegation, tears were visible on the faces of people, young and old. A guest with the New York delegation, Veta Richardson, said, "I think Kennedy and Obama have the same message of hope."

For Rep. David Price of North Carolina, Kennedy's torch-passing appealed from both a generational and an academic perspective. "The invoking of his brothers' generation was perfect political symbolism to someone who came of age with the Kennedys," he said. "To Southerners of my age, it means so much."

After the emotional outpouring for Kennedy, Michelle Obama, wearing a simple but elegant one-piece blue dress, had a different mission. She presented a softer image of a daughter and mother sharing the concerns of everyday Americans. Responding to the oft-repeated volleys that portray her as unpatriotic, Obama declared, "I love this country," to roars of approval in the hall.

As delegates waved tall "MICHELLE" signs, she presented the case to voters that her family's values are rooted in the American tradition of hard work and sacrifice. Delivered as if by a lawyer making a closing argument, Obama portrayed a family whose lives are squarely in the mainstream of America.

"I come here as a daughter -- raised on the South Side of Chicago by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me," she said.

Of her husband, she said that what struck her when she first met him was that "even though he had this funny name, even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine. He was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did."

Midway through the speech, the crowd exploded into applause as she referred to Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign that "put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters -- and sons -- can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher." She joined in the clapping, a clear attempt to tamp down the still-simmering anger of some of Clinton's 18 million supporters, including delegates who have been reluctant to back her husband.

Obama ended her remarks with a tribute to her husband -- to which the crowd responded with a standing ovation. "The Barack Obama I know today is the same man I fell in love with 19 years ago," she said.

The message was clear: Don't believe those oft-played attack ads that charge that the Obamas are out-of-touch elitists or celebrities. They have struggled with the same challenges and anxieties that most people feel.

The argument was persuasive to Cynthia Myer, a volunteer at the convention from Colorado, who observed, "You can just see that this family is so close."

Marilyn Werber Serafini, Gregg Sangillo, Richard E. Cohen and Will Englund contributed to this report.

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