Obama pays tributes to 'counsellor and friend'

American Reaction:PRESIDENT BARACK Obama had led tributes from across the American political spectrum to Edward Kennedy, declaring that he and First Lady Michelle Obama were "heartbroken" by news of the Massachusetts senator's death.

The president, who is holidaying on Martha’s Vineyard, not far from the Kennedy estate at Hyannis Port, was woken up at 2am yesterday to be told that the senator had lost his struggle with brain cancer.

“Over the past several years, I’ve had the honour to call Teddy a colleague, a counsellor, and a friend. And even though we have known this day was coming for some time now, we awaited it with no small amount of dread,” Mr Obama said.

“Since Teddy’s diagnosis last year, we’ve seen the courage with which he battled his illness. And while these months have no doubt been difficult for him, they’ve also let him hear from people in every corner of our nation and from around the world just how much he meant to all of us. His fight has given us the opportunity we were denied when his brothers John and Robert were taken from us: the blessing of time to say thank you – and goodbye.”

Describing Mr Kennedy as “a singular figure in American history” whose actions affected millions of lives, the president said that he was himself among those who benefited from the Massachusetts senator’s legislative efforts.

A visibly emotional vice-president Joe Biden, his voice trembling as he struggled to maintain his composure, said that Mr Kennedy had spent a lifetime pursuing justice with an infectious sense of optimism.

“He was never defeatist. He never was petty. He was never small,” Mr Biden said.

“In the process of his doing, he made everybody he worked with bigger – both his adversaries and his allies.”

Mr Kennedy’s lifelong friend, Connecticut senator Chris Dodd, said his former colleague was a hero for those Americans in the shadow of life who so desperately needed one.

“He worked tirelessly to lift Americans out of poverty, advance the cause of civil rights, and provide opportunity to all. He fought to the very end for the cause of his life – ensuring that all Americans have the healthcare they need,” he said.

Former president George Bush said he was “deeply saddened” by the death of Mr Kennedy, with whom he worked on education and immigration reform Bills. Utah Republican Orrin Hatch, a conservative with whom the Massachusetts senator formed an unlikely alliance, said America had lost a great elder statesman, a committed public servant, and leader of the Senate.

“Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States senator whose influence cannot be overstated. Many have come before, and many will come after, but Ted Kennedy’s name will always be remembered as someone who lived and breathed the United States Senate and the work completed within its chamber,” Mr Hatch said.

At the Irish Embassy in Washington, the tricolour flew at half mast yesterday and Ambassador Michael Collins paid tribute to Mr Kennedy as a great and enduring friend of Ireland.

Niall O'Dowd, publisher of the Irish Voiceand founder of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform said that Mr Kennedy's Irish heritage had informed his political outlook.

“I think it was because in his heart he identified so profoundly with the underdog, with the working poor, African-Americans, with the undocumented of whatever nationality trying to begin life in America like his great grandparents from Wexford did right after the Irish famine. He never forgot his roots, his deep identity with the downtrodden and his brothers’ dream that he could help raise people up,” Mr O’Dowd said.

“Peace in Northern Ireland would not have happened without him. He provided the key support for President Clinton that allowed him to give Gerry Adams the February 1994 visa that helped lead to the IRA ceasefire of August 1994. Ireland has lost its greatest ever voice on Capitol Hill and America has lost a hero and a man I was proud to call a friend.”

Stella O’Leary, president of Irish-American Democrats, said that Mr Kennedy embodies a distinctly Irish-American approach, not only to politics but to social life.

“I was surprised when I first met him socially to hear him spontaneously break into Irish song and story,” she said.

“Coming from Dublin I had never witnessed such a phenomenon, but quickly learned that this is a peculiarly Irish-American, mainly Bostonian, tradition and Ted continued to sing Irish songs, even at major political rallies, long after he had lost his singing voice.”