Ted Sorensen, the speechwriter and adviser to John F. Kennedy, was in Iowa tonight on hand to introduce – and attest to the credentials — of Senator Barack Obama as he delivered his foreign policy speech for the third time today.
Mr. Sorensen recounted how on the drive here from Des Moines, he did an interview with a newspaper that reminded him that this was not his first time here with a young presidential candidate.
“I was being interviewed by an editor from Iowa newspaper from, from,” Mr. Sorensen paused, — “Carroll, Iowa,” came the shout from the back of the crowd, Tommy Vietor, Mr. Obama’s Iowa press secretary, who had lent Mr. Sorensen his cell phone for the interview. Mr. Sorensen smiled his thanks.
“He said that in late fall of 1959, I was in Carroll, Iowa with Senator John F. Kennedy,” Mr. Sorensen said. “So I’m glad to be back with another young senator who is also going to be president of the United States.”
Mr. Sorensen is 79 and has lost much of his vision. He was escorted by the elbow to the lectern by an Obama aide, who positioned him in front of the microphone – at which point Mr. Sorensen demonstrated that if his eyesight had dimmed, his tongue had not;
“Don’t worry about all these people helping me find the podium,” he said. “My eyesight is not so good but I have more vision than the president of the United States.”
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