ABC News gushes for Obama

At ABC News’ Politics Vote ’08 Web site there’s what purports to be a news report by correspondent Susan Donaldson James. It headlined:

Passing the Torch: Kennedy's Touch on Obama's Words

Ted Sorensen, Legendary Speechwriter, Lends Support, Eloquence to Democratic Contender

ABC is free to pick its headlines, but I think more accurate headlines would have been:

ABC gushes for Obama.

Gives Sorenson “hero treatment” as he links Obama to Kennedy

ABC’s "news story" starts out:

It's no accident the Kennedy magic has infused itself into the campaign of Barack Obama.

And it's no accident most sensible readers have by this point caught on to what ABC is doing. The story continues [extracts]:

Theodore "Ted" Sorensen, the adviser whom John F. Kennedy once called his "intellectual blood bank," is lending his unabashed support -- and eloquence -- to the Obama campaign.

Oprah, another gushing Obama supporter, may have star power, but Sorensen has brain power.

At the age of 24, he joined the staff of the newly elected Sen. John F. Kennedy and later helped him win the presidency, calling on Americans to pass the torch to a new generation.

The legendary speechwriter helped Kennedy craft the now-famous 1961 Inaugural address in which the new president proclaimed, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis -- when Sorensen was 34 -- he penned the letter to Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev that historians say saved the world from nuclear destruction.

Today, at 79 years old and blind, Sorensen has a new mission: to resurrect Camelot. And it seems the Obama campaign is listening.

"I've given them a phrase or suggestion or two," Sorensen admits.

As for all the comparisons that have been drawn between Obama and Kennedy, "I probably started it," he told ABCNEWS.com. …

At nearly 80, Sorensen managed to work his charismatic magic with a new generation. At a dinner before his speech, he fielded questions from students, such as 16-year-old Jackie Wang.

"I wasn't prepared to meet such an extraordinary man," said Wang. "Mr. Sorensen never had the opportunity to thank or part ways with former President Kennedy. The emotions I imagined he experienced when hearing about his death moved me to tears."

There’s more. You can read it here.

How can ABC tell us Oprah’s a “gushy” Obama supporter and call its “Passing the Torch” story straight news reporting?

Easy prediction: We’re going to see a lot more MSM gushing for Obama.