Teddy Kennedy Blog

Multimedia did enhance President Obama’s eulogy for Ted Kennedy. Being able to see still pictures of his family as well as moving images of him sailing made it more personal. The images gave us a better idea of the type of person he was as we heard Obama talk about him and relate stories about his public and personal life. Also, having the media present with cameras panning back to the crowd, sometimes to his family and sometimes the other guests made us feel their sorrow.

Ted Kennedy had a very caring attitude towards service. President Obama shared that with us by saying he made it his life’s work “to give a voice to those were not heard” and give them “a rung to the ladder of opportunity” that they would not of had. He was responsible for numerous acts in the legislature for example, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Ted Kennedy’s attitude towards service often came through suffering and tragedy in his own life. Obama used a quote by the poet William Wordsworth that describes this well, “As more exposed to suffering and distress; Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.” He used his “gift of time” to touch as many people as he could. An example of that was when he phoned over 177 families after September 11.

Obama was very effective in using rhetoric during his eulogy of Ted Kennedy in describing both his private and public life. Obama added humourous stories in-between recalling his life accomplishments. He used examples of his hardships and tragedies as well as his successes and happy family times. Obama also had many adjectives to describe how great of a man Teddy was. He mentioned Kennedy was “the restless dreamer of the family who became its rock”, “soul of democratic party”, “lion of the U.S. Senate” and “The Big Cheese” to his younger nieces and nephews. Obama’s final description of a man on a boat with “white mane tousled; smiling broadly as he sails into the wind”, gave us a great image of Teddy Kennedy and how happy he was doing what he loved.

Logan Semple