http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-
kennedy29jan29,0,1618955.story

>From the Los Angeles Times

Kennedys for Clinton

She stands for Democrats and for the nation, these family members say.

By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy

January 29, 2008

This is a wonderful year for Democrats. Our party is blessed with the 
most impressive array of primary candidates in modern history. All 
would make superb presidents.

By now you may have read or heard that our cousin, Caroline Kennedy, 
and our uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, have come out in favor of Sen. 
Barack Obama. We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 
because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party 
and our country.

While talk of unity and compromise are inspiring to a nation wary of 
divisiveness, America stands at a historic crossroads where real 
issues divide our political landscapes. Democrats believe that 
America should not be torturing people, eavesdropping on our citizens 
or imprisoning them without habeas corpus or other constitutional 
rights. We should not be an imperial power. We need healthcare for 
all and a clean, safe environment.

The loftiest poetry will not solve these issues. We need a president 
willing to engage in a fistfight to safeguard and restore our 
national virtues.

We have worked with Hillary Clinton for 15 years (and in Kathleen's 
case, 25 years) and witnessed the power and depth of her convictions 
firsthand. We've seen her formidable work ethic, courage in the face 
of adversity and her dignity and clear head in crisis. We've also 
seen her two-fisted willingness to enter the brawl when America's 
principles are challenged. Her measured rhetoric, political savvy and 
pragmatism shield the heart of our nation's most determined and most 
democratic warrior.

She has been an uncompromising and loyal ally for each of us in our 
battles to protect the environment and to promote human rights around 
the world and juvenile justice in America. Hillary is a problem-
solver, listening to people and then achieving solutions by changing 
attitudes.

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. She faced rabid, heavily funded attacks from the far 
right and the challenge of prevailing in traditionally Republican 
upstate New York. 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.

We look forward to working beside her in the general election as she 
uses those same talents to change once rigid opinions and political 
affiliations across the nation.

Like our father, Hillary has devoted her life to embracing and 
including those on the bottom rung of society's ladder -- giving 
voice to the alienated and disenfranchised and working to alleviate 
poverty and injustice, while urging that we cannot advance ourselves 
as a nation by leaving our poorer brothers and sisters behind.

She's been an equally effective champion for human rights and for 
women's rights, a worldwide cause that will profit enormously by her 
elevation to the presidency. She has worked for peace in Northern 
Ireland and fought to bridge religious, racial and ethnic divides 
from Bosnia to the Middle East to South Africa. She has shown a rare 
understanding that American values can only be exported by moral 
leadership, by a strong home economy and by a detailed understanding 
of the history and cultural backdrops of the nations we engage.

She understands, as our current administration does not, the uses of 
power. The world, she says, is hungry for U.S. leadership but will 
not accept our bullying. She knows the difference and will 
reestablish America's lost prestige and moral authority.

Hillary Clinton's political career has been centered in comforting 
the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable and reminding Americans 
what it means to be American. As a young lawyer, she focused on 
children's issues and legal aid. As first lady of Arkansas, she 
brought healthcare to rural areas and helped reform the state's 
lagging education system.

As first lady, she courageously took on healthcare reform. When a 
massive propaganda campaign by Big Pharma and the radical right 
derailed her efforts, she didn't give up. She helped create the 
nationally acclaimed Children's Health Insurance Program. That kind 
of persistence in pursuit of our highest ideals is the brand of 
leadership America now requires. Inspirational leadership comes in 
many forms.

Seldom has history confronted America with such daunting challenges: 
a catastrophic foreign policy that has cost us our international 
leadership and aggravated the threat of terror; a misbegotten war 
that is squandering precious American lives and treasure; a 
healthcare system that leaves millions of Americans without coverage; 
irresponsible corporate power that is corroding our democracy and 
outsourcing our jobs, aggravating global warming and other 
environmental crises and reducing our economy to shambles.

We need a leader who is battle-tested, resilient and sure-footed on 
the shifting landscapes of domestic and foreign policy. Hillary 
Clinton will move our country forward while promoting its noblest 
ideals.


Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the former lieutenant governor of 
Maryland, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an environmental advocate and 
Kerry Kennedy is a human rights activist. 



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