That January 2008 event consciously invoked the passing of the torch to a new generation, the metaphor made indelible in John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address. And it gave a badly needed boost to Obama’s prospects against the Democratic front-runner, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), herself part of a political dynasty in the making. Though Clinton had the backing of several lesser-known members of the extended Kennedy family, its star power was solidly behind Obama.
That day, as the only reporter allowed backstage, I had a close vantage for it all. It was hard not to think back on that moment on Thursday as Kennedys gathered on a stage in Philadelphia to formally announce their support for President Biden in an attempt to protect their family’s legacy from Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the crackpot conspiracy theorist running an independent presidential campaign.
Take a moment to think about how much has changed for the family since 2008. What struck me most then was the sight of the preternaturally composed Obama, moments before the event, choking back his tears. His own father had come to this country from Kenya as part of a program assisted by the Kennedy family foundation.
“I gotta admit, I had to clamp it down a little bit,” the future president acknowledged to me later, when I brought up the emotion I had witnessed. “That was powerful stuff. When you see Ted, Caroline, Patrick together, and I think about the role they played in shaping my values and ideals and what I believe about America, the connection to my father traveling to Hawaii and meeting my mother. … It brings things full circle.”
What no one could know then was that this would be one of the final high points for the Kennedys’ collective influence in modern electoral politics.
Ted Kennedy would live but another 19 months, struck down by brain cancer before he could see Obama deliver on his cherished goal of health-care reform. Patrick would leave Congress in 2011 to devote his energies to the cause of mental health. Caroline, who was briefly under consideration to be appointed to the U.S. Senate seat from New York that Clinton had vacated to become secretary of state, would instead later serve as Obama’s ambassador to Japan.
With fewer and fewer Americans having any memory of the Camelot years, it should surprise no one that the Kennedy magic is not what it once was. But this election cycle brought a new and dark coda to the family.
RFK Jr. has exploited the dimming Kennedy aura, frequently citing his slain father and uncle. His last name has taken him into the low double digits in the polls — not enough to win any electoral votes, much less win the election, but potentially enough to tip the balance to former president Donald Trump against Biden in some of the states that will matter most in November.
The prospect of a Kennedy helping to put Trump back in the White House has horrified his relatives, three of whom — including Caroline, currently ambassador to Australia — serve in the Biden administration.
Onstage with Biden on Thursday were six of RFK’s siblings. They never mentioned their brother directly at the Philadelphia gathering, but the target of the rebuke was clear.
“President Biden has been a champion for all the rights and freedoms that my father and uncle stood for,” younger sister Kerry Kennedy declared. “That’s why nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden. That’s right. … The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.”
No, this was not a message of hope and aspiration, but then, that isn’t the kind of political season in which we find ourselves. In an election fueled by fear and resentment, there is no torch to be passed — except for the one that the Kennedys fear would be used to set fire to what’s left of the family’s name.
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