Edward M. Kennedy: The Original Agent of Change

Edward Kennedy via last.fm

It would be quite unfair to compare the careers of Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy, who died of brain cancer at age 77, with his brothers Joe, John and Robert, whose lives were cut short by war and assassins' bullets.  But over a 47-year career in the Senate as a Democrat who represented Massachusetts--and the country, he did the most to live up to the family name.

Among the many pieces of legislation Kennedy helped to get passed:  Title IX for women's athletics, No Child Left Behind, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and health care for children.  He did it by convincing some of his Republican colleagues that these were important-enough bills that should be passed.  It was known as bipartisanship, considered an endangered species in Washington today.

Before his death, Kennedy's last great crusade was to ensure that every American has access to affordable health care coverage.  Part of the reason legislation for it is floundering in Congress--besides the organized rabble rousing and the co-opting by Big Medicine--was Kennedy's limited involvement due to his illness.

So what's going to happen now?  Will Congress pass some kind of bill in Kennedy's honor, just like they did with the Civil Rights Act after JFK was assassinated, and with gun control legislation after RFK's murder?

Outside of politics, Kennedy had seen his share of family tragedy, both public and private, including some that were self-inflicted:  surviving a plane crash, a divorce, problems with alcohol and alleged extramarital affairs.

Few will forgive Kennedy for what happened at Chappaquiddick that night in 1969, when he drove his car off a bridge with a woman passenger who later died.  He never really explained what happened.  That should have been the end of his political career, but it wasn't.

Kennedy did run for President in 1980, but doing battle with incumbent Jimmy Carter and being vague about why he wanted the job in a TV interview certainly didn't help his chances.

Ted Kennedy was a hero not just to Democrats, but to ordinary people of all walks of life who needed a helping hand.  To Republicans, he was the symbol of everything that was wrong with Big Government, the classic Tax-and-Spend Liberal.  But there is no question that he was a catalyst for change whose impact has yet to be felt.  It was no accident that he lent his support in the last presidential campaign to another man who ran on the promise of change, Barack Obama.

The Kennedy family will be with us in public life for a long time to come, though not necessarily in politics.  It remains to be seen whether the following generations will have as much influence on American history as the first generation did.

The last words should go to Kennedy himself, speaking at the 1980 Democratic National Convention at  New York's Madison Square Garden after having lost the nomination to Carter:  "For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end.  For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die".