EMAIL FROM JOHN KERRY & SEN E.M KENNNEDY

Dear Allan,

It's crunch time heading into February 5th -- Super Tuesday -- and this week I'm introducing you to some voices in the johnkerry.com community who share my commitment to electing Barack Obama to serve as our next President of the United States. Today: my good friend and fellow Senator from Massachusetts, Ted Kennedy.

Thanks,
John Kerry



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Moments like this don’t come often.

Yesterday in Washington I took the stage with my niece Caroline and son Patrick to pledge our support for Barack Obama: a candidate who has the unique ability to transcend the politics of fear and division to bring the change in America we so desperately need.

This isn’t the first endorsement you’ve heard about – and I hope it won’t be the last. A few weeks ago, John Kerry gave his and now with the "Super Tuesday" primaries a week away, the Obama campaign needs support from everyone who will give it. That’s why I’m asking you to please join Barack Obama’s campaign for change:

http://my.barackobama.com/tedkennedy

Every time I've been asked over the past year who I would support in the Democratic Primary, my answer has always been the same: I'll support the candidate who inspires me, who 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.

We have three great candidates still in the race, and while I have a great amount of respect for both Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, I believe there is one candidate who has extraordinary gifts of leadership and character, matched to the extraordinary demands of this moment in history.

Barack Obama should be the next President of the United States. I see in him a man who can bring transformative change to our country.

There is the great intelligence of someone who could have had a glittering career in corporate law, but chose instead to serve his community and then enter public life.

There is the tireless skill of a Senator who was there in the early mornings to help us hammer out a needed compromise on immigration reform – who always saw a way to protect both national security and the dignity of people who do not have a vote. For them, he was a voice for justice.

There is the clear effectiveness of Barack Obama in fashioning legislation to put high quality teachers in our classrooms – and in pushing and prodding the Senate to pass the most far-reaching ethics reform in its history.

And on an issue very important to me, I believe that Barack Obama can bring about real change in our health care system in this country. He can break the stalemate of our politics and make health care what it should be in this country: a fundamental right for all, not just an expensive privilege for the few.

His deep commitment to health care can move us beyond the gridlock of past battles and into a new era when at last affordable, accessible health care becomes a right for all and not a privilege for the few. He's already proven his abilities, authoring a health care expansion in Illinois that brought coverage to many who didn't have any. And he's worked with me on our efforts to get the SCHIP program expanded over the veto of President Bush.

He knows from his work as a community organizer how vital it is to get all Americans the health care they deserve. His work on the issue combines a compassion for those in need with a tough-minded resolution to find solutions.

I am convinced we can reach our goals only if we are "not petty when our cause is so great" – only if we find a way past the stale ideas and stalemate of our times – only if we replace the politics of fear with the politics of hope – and only if we have the courage to choose change.

Barack Obama is the one person running for President who can bring us that change.

Barack Obama is the one person running for President who can be that change.

Now it’s your turn to join John and me and support the Obama campaign. Support the next generation of American leadership and join Barack Obama's campaign:

http://my.barackobama.com/tedkennedy

I love this country. I believe in the bright light of hope and possibility. I always have, even in the darkest hours. I know what America can achieve. I've seen it. I've lived it – and with Barack Obama, we can do it again.


Sincerely,

Senator Edward M. Kennedy