Obama Eulogizes Teddy

It was a somber morning as 1,500 people packed Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica in Boston, where Sen. Ted Kennedy was laid to rest. The mourners sang “Holy God We Praise Thy Name” as a military honor guard carried Kennedy’s flag-draped coffin into the church. President Obama delivered a eulogy, calling Kennedy a “force of nature.” Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama sat in the first row, and Bill and Hillary Clinton sat a row behind them. Vice President Biden, Jimmy Carter, and George Bush also attended with their wives. And though politicians filled the pews, their constituents lined the streets outside. Over 50,000 people have visited Kennedy’s coffin in the last two days. “We do not weep for him today because of the prestige attached to his name or his office,” Obama said of Kennedy. “We weep because we loved this kind and tender hero who persevered through pain and tragedy-- not for the sake of ambition or vanity; not for wealth or power; but only for the people and the country he loved.”