State of their union: Obama turns his back on Hillary

So close, yet so far away and so bitter. Rival Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton...

So close, yet so far away and so bitter. Rival Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama came within a foot of each other just before President George W Bush’s State of the Union speech on Monday night and managed not to acknowledge each other, and certainly not touch.

Clinton, clad in scarlet, crossed the aisle between their seats on the House floor. Senator Edward M Kennedy, the Democratic icon who had endorsed Obama earlier in the day over Clinton, reached out his hand when she came close.

She took it; they shook. Meanwhile, Obama, dressed in a dark suit, had turned away. The rivals then retreated to their seats, only the aisle and four senators between them. Obama sat next to Kennedy during Bush’s speech. It was the latest chapter in the increasingly nasty fight between the two leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination and capped a dramatic day.

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Hours earlier, Obama received the endorsements of Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy, the brother and daughter, respectively, of President John F Kennedy. They were joined by Democratic Rep Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, the senator’s son.

Summoning memories of his brother the slain president, Senator Edward M Kennedy led two generations of the First Family of Democratic politics in endorsing Barack Obama for the White House, declaring, “I feel change is in the air.”

Obama is a man of rare “grit and grace”, Kennedy said. He is expected to campaign actively for Obama beginning later this week in Arizona, New Mexico and California.