NYT: Camelot ’08 Overshadows Bush Speech

[loveangelc]

The day began in Camelot and ended in Southfork.

Viewers on Monday were treated to a rare look at three dynasties working out their psychodramas at once: In his final State of the Union address, President Bush, the rebel Texan who defied his father, struggled to avoid the gloom of recession that darkened his father’s final days in the Oval Office. On the campaign trail, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to patch over the pricklier parts of her husband’s legacy, while in Washington, the Kennedy clan sought vindication — and renewed vigor — by passing the torch to an adopted heir.

~snip~

His words, moreover, were eclipsed by the image of Caroline Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy anointing Senator Barack Obama as the true successor to John F. Kennedy. That tableau from a rally at American University, shown over and over throughout the day, was powerful and also poignant — the camera showed all too vividly that in passing the torch to Mr. Obama, the patriarch of the Kennedy clan was bypassing his own scions.

Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, on the stage but not of the moment, kept standing up during his father’s and Mr. Obama’s speeches, as if to sneak into the camera’s frame. At one point while Ms. Kennedy was speaking, Senator Kennedy leaned toward Mr. Obama, who put both his arms around the senator as the two men shared a joke. Young Mr. Kennedy leaned over to try to hear their conversation, but was ignored.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/washington/29watch.html?_r=1&ex=1359349200&en=3bb6d3a8c333fd2a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin