A President like my father

By
Caroline Kennedy                                                                  Read Spanish Version

This
opinion piece appeared in the Sunday (January 27) issue of The New
York Times.

Over
the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me
they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the
way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more
profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate
in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My
reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are
intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed
their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics
because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed
that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born
long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live
out his ideals.

Sometimes
it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to
get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest
ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those
rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside
our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We
have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the
other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year,
that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this
country — just as we did in 1960.

Most
of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences.
However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out
detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to
investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership,
character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator
Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two
decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but
in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities,
taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight
years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has
built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this
country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young
people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to
politics — to become engaged in the political process.

I
have spent the past five years working in the New York City public
schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a
generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative
and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and
disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children
to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future.
Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren,
with that sense of possibility.

Senator
Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken
eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window
into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to
judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important
issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

I
want a president who understands that his responsibility is to
articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds
himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who
appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American
Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American
ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that
our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I
have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me
that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I
have found the man who could be that president — not just for me,
but for a new generation of Americans.

Caroline
Kennedy is the author of “A
Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating
the Land We Love.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html?ref=opinion