These are not ordinary times and this is not an ordinary election. At stake is not simply the leadership of our party and even our country. It is our right to the moral leadership of this planet.

The quotation frames a political contest as a moral test rather than a routine struggle for office. Kennedy’s language elevates the stakes from party leadership to national purpose, and then further to an international responsibility: the United States, in his view, must earn (not assume) “moral leadership” through its conduct. The phrasing implies that legitimacy in global leadership depends on ethical example—civil rights at home, restraint and justice abroad, and a willingness to align power with principle. It also reflects a Cold War-era belief that America’s standing was contested not only militarily but morally, and that elections could determine the nation’s character and credibility.