JK Obama Endorsement on CSPAN 1 8 pm EST c. 45 mins, followed by Richardson withdrawal

[Luftmensch067]

At least according to the onscreen crawl -- nothing on the online schedule that I can see!

[Democrafty]

1. Awesome! Thanks for posting!

I caught the latter bit of Obama's speech earlier, and it was good. It was really good. And then they showed the senators hugging (again) walking out, waving to supporters, etc. And JK ran into Marvin and they hugged!!! Aw!!! Squee abounds!

[Luftmensch067]

2. Oh, I didn't know about Marvin!!!!

Three hugs between JK and Obama, but Marvin is the icing on the hug cake! :-) :-)

[globalvillage]

3. Cool, thanks!

I haven't seen it yet. I read the speech, though, and it was awesome.

[hibiscus]

4. He is on Cspan now

I am watching.

[MBS]

5. also, Hardball spent the first 25 minutes tonight on JK-Obama

endorsement. Yeah, it's Chris Matthews, but it actually wasn't bad.. and commentators pointed out how this revealed the Clinton vs (hmm, what shall we call it, how about "Kerry-Obama" wing :))
wings of the Dem Party. . .strongly implying that the Kerry-Obama wing was the future of the party, and the Clinton wing was the past. More importantly, and unlike a surprisingly petty comment today on local Boston NPR station by local commentator /political operative Dan Payne (who must have some sort of grudge vs JK.. ), the Hardball guys (correctly, IMHO) pegged JK's endorsement as a plus for Obama, and an important moment in the campaign. Clarence Page of Chicago Tribune said that JK was the "old" (that is, young) JK, the young activist, freed from the constraints of running for national office, strongly implying that that young activist is JK's truest self.

This moment today felt so RIGHT to me. Right in the timing, right in the choice, right in the context, right in terms of who JK is.
Ah, a good day.Forget the crazies and ravers in the blogosphere.. Kerry and Obama are the future.

[Inuca]

6. Yes,today felt good

it also felt kind of sad... I just watched the Kerry and Obama speeches, incredibly good both of them, with striking similarities and striking differences. I am not talking about the content per se, rather in terms of what they say about the men themselves. Obama is an incredible orator, a real tribune. Kerry is not, but almost each word, each phrase and each idea in his important speeches (and this one was most definitely in that category) are special and thought provoking.

Why sad? Because in a sense it is a passing of the torch, as Kerry clearly intimated in his speech, and it makes me sad. The fact that I am closer to the generation that passes the torch than the one receiving it does not help either :-). But that's the way it should be.

[ginnyinWI]

17. I was sad to realize that he realizes he's not going to run again.

If he had any idea that he ever would again, I don't think he would have said all those things about new, younger faces... :( But I'm sure he's excited and looking forward to really getting something done legislatively working with a Dem administration. He's not ready to be put out to pasture yet! Who knows, maybe he'll be working from inside the new administration.

[sandnsea]

7. That's exactly how I see it

For so many reasons, from oil and global policy changes to Rovian attack politics to cronyism, we need a HUGE change. I'm glad Hardall got it right. Abrams has been a total Clinton toadie.

[europegirl4jfk]

9. I watched CNN Anderson Cooper and it was just awful!

They had a guy on: Joe Klein from Time Mag (I don't really know him) and he said Kerry's endorsement doesn't mean a thing, maybe only to windsurfers. And that Kerry coming back from the "mists of history" wasn't good for Obama. And they talked about the negative reaction in the blogosphere and had some nasty comment from - not sure - the NY Times about that too. Most of the people discussing this with AC agreed that people still have a grudge on Kerry because he lost in 2004. I was disgusted but that's the only US news program I can get here in France. :-(

[LittleClarkie]

12. The only thing I really know about Joe Klein is that he hates Kerry

Someone else might know more. But based on that alone, I'd say his comments are pretty meaningless.

[Inuca]

19. I watched some Blitzer

Matthews and even Tucker (no Keith, I had to switch to CSPAN :-)) yesterday, plenty of snark, interspread with some good comments, but plenty of nasty platitudes.

[karynnj]

21. Klein was VILE

Taking comments from the blogosphere showed they had no concept of the blogosphere. If Kerry's endorsement was not important the level of reaction would have been on a par with Bill Bradley's. (My former Senator and a great guy.) The blogosphere is by definition partisan and tends to be over the top.

Some of the reaction is disappointment by people in other campaigns, that hoped he would endorse them or at least stay silent. Others were spin. Taylor Marsh was TOTALLY spin - she is encouraging the Edwards people to believe that Obama and Kerry did something ugly here when they didn't. Why, Edwards will bow out eventually and she wants them to pick HRC over Obama. She is in effect trying to counter Kerry's endorsement which could move some Edwards people.

The grudge comment is somewhat true - especially among people on the fringe who ignore reality and think that everyone else could have beat Bush. To some extent though, I wonder if the Clinton frame of Kerry, used to try to push him out - a very good, intelligent man who is a lousy politician hurts them here. That grudge affects him running for President, but does not keep him from evolving into a trusted elder statesman role.

[ginnyinWI]

16. I watched it too, enjoying the rare attention to JK

Clarence also noted that, "John Kerry is known for making surprise moves." So some of the pundits were surprised, maybe, because they don't really know JK very well--they just think they do. He's hard to stereotype I guess!

Richard Wolfe on Countdown noted, to my delight, that JK had gotten more popular votes for president than Bill Clinton. I suppose that was his way of saying that old Bill isn't such a much after all!

[karynnj]

20. Page's comment is interesting

That likely is JK's truest self - especially if expanded to be not just his anti war and environmental stuff, but the fight against the support of the Contras and corruption (BCCI and campaign finance reform). In 2004, learning all that, made it seem like in Kerry, beneath all the other accomplishments on the surface that made him a great choice, there was this stealth stream of activism and genuine reform of government. It still amazes me that someone who took on the government in power three times was able to still work within the establishment well enough to get the nomination. (Remember times when people on DU question that Kerry could have stood against almost the entire Senate in the early 1990s - cause that would shake their view that he was establishment.)

Few REAL proponents are elected President - though they define the change that a more toned down staid President enacts.

[wildflowergardener]

8. speeches

Two great speeches. I watched on Cspan's website.

Meg

[politicasista]

10. I liked the speech, but

you think the endorsement would play big among Obama's AA supporters on other sites, but now they see it as a liability and say Obama shouldn't except his endorsement. Go figure. :(

[wildflowergardener]

11. vote

Well then I guess they aren't interested in my vote, because his endorsement makes me lean more towards Obama.

Hmm.

Meg

[politicasista]

13. Interesting

:hi:

[wildflowergardener]

14. well

I could easily change my mind tomorrow but don't have to vote till Feb. I know I don't want Hillary. In 2004 I really liked Edwards during the primaries but I voted for Kerry in the primaries because I saw him speak and was impressed and I didn't care for Dean and I thought Kerry had a better chance of beating him. The more I saw of Edwards the less impressed I was - it wasn't that I didn't think he seemed like a good person - he just didn't inspire me the way Kerry did with his speeches and honestly there didn't seem like he was all that deep - not that that's such a bad thing. The speech today makes me think that Obama may be more similar to Kerry in that he is more likely to inspire me, and make me want to work to help him win the election - maybe not as much as Kerry.

On the other hand I really did like Edwards in the debate. But the one thing I think is that John Kerry would have had plenty of time to get to know Edwards pretty well while they were running for president together wouldn't he? It seems he'd have a pretty good read on what he's like beyond the speeches after all that and I trust Kerry's opinion. Kerry's endorsement couldn't make me vote for Hillary Clinton for the primary, but when I'm already unsure it does make me take a second look at supporting Obama.

Meg

[politicasista]

15. Good observation

Good luck also. :hi:

[ginnyinWI]

18. I won't be voting until Feb. 19

That shouldn't be late, but this year it certainly is!

I like Edwards, I really do, but not as a President. He's a fighter, a fighting trial lawyer, and I think would make a great Attorney General. But not a president, because a President needs to have a more positive vision for America, and that's where Edwards falls a little short. If you are mostly focused on getting rid of the bad stuff, that's great, but a President has to be able to have an overall sense of how to guide the ship--where the country should be going and how to get there. And he has to be able to inspire others to follow him there. That kind of vision.