Kennedys on hand for Obama’s health care speech

Senator Edward M. Kennedy is gone, but his words echoed through the House chamber Wednesday as President Barack Obama tried to prod recalcitrant Democrats and Republicans into finishing the late senator’s life work - overhauling the US healthcare system.

Obama read from a letter Kennedy wrote May 29 that was delivered after his death last month, “Soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth.”

In the gallery overhead, first lady Michelle Obama reached over and took the hand of Vicki Kennedy, the senator’s widow.

Also in the chamber were the senator’s sons Teddy Jr., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island and their sister, Kara.  

 

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