Obama On Kennedy: “One Of The Most Accomplished Americans Ever To Serve Our Democracy”

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In a brief speech from Martha’s Vineyard moments ago, President Obama praised Teddy Kennedy as “one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy.”

“For his family he was a guardian, for America he was a defender of a dream,” said Obama, whose campaign for the presidency was given a vital boost last year by the Massachusetts senator’s endorsement.

Obama said that the encomiums that have been poring in this morning are “a testament to the way this singular figure in American history touched so many lives.”

Referring to Kennedy’s long career, Obama added that the liberal lion’s “fight has given us the opportunity denied when his brothers were taken from us.”

And the president praised Kennedy’s ability to remain beloved by Senate colleagues from both parties: “In the U.S. Senate, I can think of no one who engendered more respect and affection from both sides of the aisle.”

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