Kennedy speech...

Kennedy calls Trump a 'bully' — though not by name

By MATTHEW NUSSBAUM

Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), a scion of the powerful Democratic dynasty, touted his party’s promise of “a better deal” in his rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

Kennedy, speaking from Fall River, Mass., sought to paint the president as a bully set on division, though he did not once mention Trump by name.

“This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us — they are targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection,” Kennedy said in an address that sought to weave together an inclusive message that reached out to those in Trump country and those in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing.

He gave nods to both the “me too” and “Black Lives Matter” movements. He hailed the Women’s Marches protesting Trump and delivered a line in Spanish. And he promised that Democrats’ vision for the United States was one that “the greatest strongest, richest, nation in the world should not have to leave any one behind.”

“Bullies may land a punch. They might leave a mark,” he said. “But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future.”

Kennedy also sought to revive the Democrats’ “better deal” — an on-again, off-again slogan from last year and a play on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal, among the party’s signature 20th-century achievements.

“We choose a better deal for all who call our country home,” Kennedy said. “We choose the living wage, paid leave and the affordable child care your family needs to survive. We choose pensions that are solvent, trade pacts that are fair, roads and bridges that won’t rust away, a good education you can afford. We choose a health care system that offers you mercy, whether you suffer from cancer or depression or addiction. We choose an economy strong enough to boast record stock prices and brave enough to admit that top CEOs making 300 times the average worker is not right.”

Still, Kennedy could not escape some of the stilted awkwardness that seems a perennial feature of State of the Union rebuttals. While Trump spoke from the House chamber before Congress, the Cabinet, Supreme Court Justices and top military leaders, Kennedy addressed a small crowd with what appeared to be an antique car in the background.

Kennedy, a grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, the late senator and attorney general, may have delivered the party’s official response, but his isn't the only one.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) will deliver their own responses. Virginia Del. Elizabeth Guzman will deliver the official response in Spanish.

Kennedy is one of a number of Democrats whose name has been floated as a potential 2020 contender to take on Trump.