Published: May 05, 2008 09:36 pm            

Kennedy family divided on candidates

Bobby Kennedy’s son visits site of his 1968 Kokomo speech

It was Bobby Kennedy’s Indianapolis speech, given in the wake of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, which became legend.

But Bobby Kennedy came to Kokomo not long after, hot on the trail of his first primary victory. His speech on the west side of the Howard County courthouse drew 5,000, and he rode that momentum to victory in Indiana.

Forty years later, Bobby Kennedy’s son, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, was back in Kokomo, stumping for the man he considers the successor of his father’s political legacy, Sen. Barack Obama.

Only 3 years old when he accompanied his father and mother Ethel on a 1968 swing through the Hoosier state, Max Kennedy nonetheless knows now what an effect the Hoosier victory had on that campaign. Late coming into the presidential campaign, Bobby Kennedy immediately took frontrunner status.

“I think the trip out here had a profound effect on him; obviously because of Dr. King’s death, but beyond that, the reception he received here I think gave him a great deal of confidence in the changes he wanted to make in this country,” Max Kennedy said at Obama’s local headquarters.

His father, he added, resisted the urgings of what Max Kennedy called “the beginning of political consultants.”

Honesty, Max Kennedy said, is what will win Obama the presidency, in spite of conventional political wisdom.

“I think he’s willing to lose the presidency for his principles,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s really important for someone to be able to give up his ambitions for what’s right.”

In addition to Kokomo, Max Kennedy and his wife, Vicky, both Los Angeles residents, visited Anderson, Muncie, Fort Wayne and Lafayette Monday.

They aren’t the only Kennedys stumping in Indiana, however.

Both Bobby Kennedy Jr. and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Max Kennedy’s siblings [Bobby and Ethel had 11 children], have stumped here for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy have also come out in support of Obama in the race.

Bobby Kennedy Jr., Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Kerry Kennedy explained their support for Clinton in a nationally published op-ed piece in January.

“Her transformational leadership was on display when she ran for the Senate seat in New York that had been held by our father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy,” they wrote.

“Traveling with her, we watched admiringly as she persuasively articulated an inspiring and unifying vision rooted in American values and history. Then, through patience, hard work, leadership and political acumen, she transformed many of those rock-solid conservative counties into solid Democratic strongholds.”

It’s perhaps natural the prominent Kennedy clan should be split on the best nominee, since so many Hoosier families are as well.

Obama’s April 25 public appearance, and Clinton’s April 29 appearance both drew crowds of about 3,000 to Memorial Gym, and last month, U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly made the bold prediction that whoever wins the Democratic presidential primary in Howard County will win the state.

Monday, however, Max Kennedy said his candidate could wrap up the election with an Indiana win.

“It’s going to be so close, but if Barack wins Indiana, the election’s over, and the country is changed,” he said. “You can feel what’s out there, and the momentum is with us now.”

        

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