Kennedy lays on the charm before Obama appearance
EDINBURG — Students at the University of Texas-Pan American had low expectations for U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy on Wednesday.
In the hallway outside the student union, volunteers for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign tried to coax knots of young adults playing games or studying to help fill the 500-seat theater.
“Don’t you want to see Ted Kennedy in person?” asked Camilla Ihentu, gesturing toward the open doors.
“We can watch it on TV,” said one student, gesturing to a television screen behind her.
“I have to write a paper and finish all of this,” complained another, waving a book.
But Kennedy, 75, eventually filled the room — and brought it to its feet when he appeared, shouting in a signature Kennedy growl, “Helllllllllo, Edinburg! You glad to see me? I’m glad to see you!”
The younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat campaigned for his brothers in the Rio Grande Valley in the 1960s, stopping to meet with striking farm workers in Starr County.
He also visited during his failed attempt to wrest the Democratic nomination from Jimmy Carter in 1980.
Today, he said, “the eyes of the world … are going to be on Texas.
“You have the opportunity to select not only the Democratic nominee, but really, the next president.”
Kennedy touched on Obama’s favorite issues — health care and education chief among them — as well as immigration reform, and he praised UTPA.
He also invoked his grandparents — who were immigrants to Boston from Ireland — as proof he and Obama are in touch with the experience of Hispanic immigrants in Texas.
And he gave local activists and veterans what they wanted, denouncing plans for a fence on the Texas-Mexico border and promising a Veterans Affairs hospital in the Valley.
On stage with him was a smattering of supporters that included few of the well known people who have lined up behind Obama’s opponent, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY. Those who have supported Obama say they feel like outsiders in the pro-Clinton Valley.
“You know the climate of politics here,” said Edinburg Mayor Joe Ochoa, an Obama supporter. “It’s a palanca — the pack follows. I don’t follow the pack.”
Likewise, state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, and Aaron Peña Jr., have both split with their fathers — local legislators after whom they’re each named — to join the Obama movement.
“I had an open mind,” Lucio said.
But he acknowledged his split with his father, state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., has caused a stir, he said.
“We both believe in our candidates.”
Kennedy, a 48-year veteran of the U.S. Senate, has been working to anoint Obama with the Kennedy legacy since endorsing the junior senator from Illinois on Jan. 28. Joe Kennedy, grandson of Robert F. Kennedy and a law student, traveled with his great-uncle.
“I see in Barack Obama that same commitment and dedication to service that I have come to appreciate in my own family,” said the younger Kennedy, a recent Peace Corps volunteer.
Much of the crowd was made up of undecided voters, who sat alongside more devoted fans.
Rene Perez, 28, dragged two friends to the event.
A dedicated Obama fan since early in the race, he said, “I saw all the candidates who were part of the system. Obama’s not.”
His friend Rolando Chavez, who confessed that he has often been apathetic about politics, said he was undecided.
“I know what (Obama’s) issues are, but I want to see what he’s going to do — the nitty-gritty,” he said.
Students outside the event expressed anger at Clinton, who reneged on an early plan to speak on UTPA’s campus Wednesday in favor of a rally at Hidalgo’s Dodge Arena.
“I rearranged my entire schedule to see her,” said Juventino Saldivar III. “If (Obama) shows up on campus, he’s got my vote.”
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Monitor staff writer Jared Taylor contributed to this report.
