http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32519458/ns/politics-white_house/
President may visit ailing senator, whose endorsement came at key time
Image: Sen. Kennedy, President Obama
President Barack Obama asked Sen. Edward Kennedy for advice on a possible presidential run when they were Senate colleagues.
View related photos
Charles Dharapak / AP
updated 12:43 p.m. PT, Sat., Aug 22, 2009
BOSTON - When Barack Obama's presidential prospects sagged, Sen. Edward Kennedy lifted the candidate with a coveted endorsement.
When brain cancer kept the Massachusetts Democrat from delivering his stepdaughter's college commencement address, Obama left the campaign trail and stood in for his then-Senate colleague.
And when Obama made one of the most closely watched decisions of his young presidency — the type of puppy for his daughters — it was Kennedy who gave him "Bo," a Portuguese Water Dog like the pair that have been a fixture in Kennedy's Capitol Hill offices.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here
With Kennedy now at his vacation home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod and Obama setting off on his weeklong stay on nearby Martha's Vineyard, there's speculation the president may come see the ailing senator.
A visit could provide a rallying point for Democrats as Obama seeks to achieve one of Kennedy's career goals: overhauling the nation's health insurance system to provide near-universal coverage.
It also would show anew the close relationship between the first African-American president and the last vestige of the Camelot White House era.
Obama honored Kennedy, brothers
Despite a gulf in age, race and life experience, the 48-year-old Obama and the 77-year-old Kennedy have forged a personal bond evident in the tribute the president paid Kennedy and his assassinated brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, before he signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law in April.
"I want all Americans to take up that spirit of the man for whom this bill is named; of a president who sent us to the moon; of a dreamer who always asked, `Why not?' — of a younger generation that carries the torch of a single family that has made an immeasurable difference in the lives of countless families," Obama said.
Those who know both men find the relationship understandable, despite the age difference.
"He is the kind of president that Kennedy can relate to," said Robert Shrum, who helped drafted the senator's famous 1980 Democratic National Convention concession speech and remains a close personal friend.
Video
Obama plays defense over health care
Aug. 22: President Barack Obama used his weekly Internet address to refute what he called “outright distortions” of his health care plan. NBC’s Mike Viqueira reports.
Nightly News
"He's trying to do very, very big things. He's appealed to people's idealism. He's appealed to their notion of service, things that have been touchstones of Kennedy's life," Shrum said.
Capitol Hill aides say the two men were not especially close during Obama's first 18 months in the Senate, which began in 2005. They shared a mutual bond in opposing the Iraq war, but there was little more than a collegial relationship.
The turning point came in 2006, when Obama visited Kennedy to ask whether he should run for president.
"Your time only comes once, and this is your time," Kennedy told Obama, according to a Kennedy aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to recount a private conversation.
Click for related content
Timeline: Key dates in Sen. Kennedy's life
During the following months, Kennedy avoided endorsing any Democratic contender, including New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. She had been first lady under another Kennedy acolyte, former President Bill Clinton.
Yet Kennedy's admiration for Obama, coupled with a feeling the Clintons had incited racial concerns about Obama, led Kennedy to endorse Obama in January 2008. He and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, evoked parallels to the early 1960s excitement surrounding the presidency of her father, John F. Kennedy.
"I've seen it. I've lived it. And with Barack Obama, we can do it again," the senator said during a raucous rally at American University in Washington.
CONTINUED : 'Ted Kennedy is not done just yet'
1 | 2 | Next > if you want to read it all click
President may visit ailing senator, whose endorsement came at key time
Image: Sen. Kennedy, President Obama
President Barack Obama asked Sen. Edward Kennedy for advice on a possible presidential run when they were Senate colleagues.
View related photos
Charles Dharapak / AP
updated 12:43 p.m. PT, Sat., Aug 22, 2009
BOSTON - When Barack Obama's presidential prospects sagged, Sen. Edward Kennedy lifted the candidate with a coveted endorsement.
When brain cancer kept the Massachusetts Democrat from delivering his stepdaughter's college commencement address, Obama left the campaign trail and stood in for his then-Senate colleague.
And when Obama made one of the most closely watched decisions of his young presidency — the type of puppy for his daughters — it was Kennedy who gave him "Bo," a Portuguese Water Dog like the pair that have been a fixture in Kennedy's Capitol Hill offices.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here
With Kennedy now at his vacation home in Hyannis Port on Cape Cod and Obama setting off on his weeklong stay on nearby Martha's Vineyard, there's speculation the president may come see the ailing senator.
A visit could provide a rallying point for Democrats as Obama seeks to achieve one of Kennedy's career goals: overhauling the nation's health insurance system to provide near-universal coverage.
It also would show anew the close relationship between the first African-American president and the last vestige of the Camelot White House era.
Obama honored Kennedy, brothers
Despite a gulf in age, race and life experience, the 48-year-old Obama and the 77-year-old Kennedy have forged a personal bond evident in the tribute the president paid Kennedy and his assassinated brothers, President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, before he signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law in April.
"I want all Americans to take up that spirit of the man for whom this bill is named; of a president who sent us to the moon; of a dreamer who always asked, `Why not?' — of a younger generation that carries the torch of a single family that has made an immeasurable difference in the lives of countless families," Obama said.
Those who know both men find the relationship understandable, despite the age difference.
"He is the kind of president that Kennedy can relate to," said Robert Shrum, who helped drafted the senator's famous 1980 Democratic National Convention concession speech and remains a close personal friend.
Video
Obama plays defense over health care
Aug. 22: President Barack Obama used his weekly Internet address to refute what he called “outright distortions” of his health care plan. NBC’s Mike Viqueira reports.
Nightly News
"He's trying to do very, very big things. He's appealed to people's idealism. He's appealed to their notion of service, things that have been touchstones of Kennedy's life," Shrum said.
Capitol Hill aides say the two men were not especially close during Obama's first 18 months in the Senate, which began in 2005. They shared a mutual bond in opposing the Iraq war, but there was little more than a collegial relationship.
The turning point came in 2006, when Obama visited Kennedy to ask whether he should run for president.
"Your time only comes once, and this is your time," Kennedy told Obama, according to a Kennedy aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to recount a private conversation.
Click for related content
Timeline: Key dates in Sen. Kennedy's life
During the following months, Kennedy avoided endorsing any Democratic contender, including New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. She had been first lady under another Kennedy acolyte, former President Bill Clinton.
Yet Kennedy's admiration for Obama, coupled with a feeling the Clintons had incited racial concerns about Obama, led Kennedy to endorse Obama in January 2008. He and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, evoked parallels to the early 1960s excitement surrounding the presidency of her father, John F. Kennedy.
"I've seen it. I've lived it. And with Barack Obama, we can do it again," the senator said during a raucous rally at American University in Washington.
CONTINUED : 'Ted Kennedy is not done just yet'
1 | 2 | Next > if you want to read it all click
