The ‘Lion of the Senate” is dead. Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer on Tuesday and died at 77. With his death, the country lost one of the most tireless and passionate voices for the poor and powerless in our nation.
I had the pleasure of meeting Kennedy many times through the years, starting when I was a page and then again when I ran as the youngest delegate candidate for the Democratic National Convention in 1980. I also served as his campaign coordinator for the birth district of Ronald Reagan in Galesburg, Illinois.
He was someone of tremendous privilege who became a voice for the underprivileged. He lived through unimaginable tragedies in his personal life, but remained famously optimistic about the future. His family issued the following statement: “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice.”
One of his most moving speeches came with one of his greatest tragedies: the murder of this brother Bobby:
For those of us on the 1980 campaign, the highlight was his 1980 convention speech:
His own words about his brother Bobby fit his own life all too well:
[He] need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
For the full story, click here.
I saw that on Rawstory- Byrd, whatever one may think of him, has to be acknowledged as one shrewed politician. Good for him, I hope he gets the bill re-titled and it can be passed as a program Senator Kennedy would have been proud to have named for him.
Senator Byrd is already considering titling the bill the “Kennedy Health Bill” or some language like that…
I have always believed that the measure of any of us is how well we use our capacity to transform who we are, in our flawed humanity, into what we, with courage, sacrifice, and virtue, might one day become. By that standard, I believe we have seen, in the death of Ted Kennedy, the passing of the personification of that paradigm:
“Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.”
…
“For the fortunate among us, there is the temptation to follow the easy and familiar paths of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who enjoy the privilege of education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. Like it or not, we live in times of danger and uncertainty. But they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history. All of us will ultimately be judged, and as the years pass we will surely judge ourselves on the effort we have contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which our ideals and goals have shaped that event.
The future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great enterprises of American Society.”
A little more history and oratorical magic from what William Manchester might have called, the “Last Lion” of our Republic:
He will be missed in the Senate. It would be nice if we could pass the Health Care reform Bill with a real public option and as suggested above and by Senator Byrd, have the bill named after Sen. Kennedy.
lotta writes: If I were President Obama I’d re-title my health plan the Kennedy Memorial Health Plan and frame the debate as one in a long line of battles fought by John, Bobby, Martin and Ted for basic human rights and freedom- and call anyone that threatened to vote against it a traitor. I think Ted would actually appreciate that being the consummate, old-school politician he was.
not a bad idea at all, from a purely strategic point of view. Kennedy was probably the only senator who could have twisted enough arms to get this bill passed and if Obama doesn’t get to use his caring influence in real life there is no reason why his memory, may it be a blessing, can’t be used to the greater good in death.
John Kennedy’s campaign was the first political campaign I (as a child) stuffed envelopes for. His campaign, Presidency, and assassination was what I grew up on politically, followed by the assassination of his brother, Martin Luther King, Vietnam… I too wouldn’t have the political philosophy I have if it weren’t for the Kennedy’s. May he rest in peace.
If I were President Obama I’d re-title my health plan the Kennedy Memorial Health Plan and frame the debate as one in a long line of battles fought by John, Bobby, Martin and Ted for basic human rights and freedom- and call anyone that threatened to vote against it a traitor. I think Ted would actually appreciate that being the consummate, old-school politician he was.
Kennedy had thousands of votes during his tenure. He described specifically and without doubt his best vote as the vote against the Iraq war.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/08/senator-kennedy-dies.html
Sen. Kennedy will be remembered as one of the truly towering figures of the 20th century. It is sad that he was not able to see to its conclusion the long and frequently lonely battle he fought for universal health care.
I happened to turn on “Morning Joe” this morning, which is usually a mistake, but this time it wasn’t. Chris Matthews was telling the story of Ted Kennedy’s actions towards Chuck Colson’s daughter when Colson was in prison. She was due to graduate from a Catholic High School in D.C., and had taken her share of ribbing because of her father. Well, Ted Kennedy was no fan of Colson’s, but knowing the daughter’s plight, showed up at her graduation.
There were many stories like that, but for some reason, that one stuck in my head.
I am sickened by all the hateful comments I’ve read this morning that are posted on various internet sites. Senator Kennedy spent the majority of his life fighting for what he believed would make this country of ours a better place for all people. Whether or not one agrees with his politics, Ted Kennedy he gave what he had in hopes it would help, and a person can do no more than that. Yet at least half of what I have read, written by anonymous posters, this morning are, as one person suggested, celebrating the victory of cancer over a man who struggled so hard against it. I could weep at the hate and ignorance that has invaded my country.
I don’t think I would have been involved in politics to the extent I was without the inspiration of the Kennedy family. I will miss Ted Kennedy terribly as I have the other members of his family. hm The Kennedy’s have been affected heavily by the disease of alcoholism.
May you rest in peace,Senator.
hm,
did he not leave a woman to die in a lake? was she not poor and defenseless? how does that make him a good and decent man? if that had happened during the internet era, his career would have been over.
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And for that he paid a price of personal hell. I do believe if that had happened during this day and time his career would still be intact. When people of this (his) generation were running for office it was “The” issues, not who had the best funded campaign (the most money). Ponder on that for a while “hm.”
did he not leave a woman to die in a lake? was she not poor and defenseless? how does that make him a good and decent man? if that had happened during the internet era, his career would have been over.
In my experience and Bill Gates is one of the exceptions is that people who come from generational wealth have a penchant for helping and doing. The Kennedy and Rockefeller’s Families to wit, are no exception.
A true hero will be missed.
Whatever his personal failings, he reminded us that our genuinely altruistic efforts to come to the aid others in need are our greatest legacy. Ave atque vale!
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Well said, mespo.
Seconded.
May the wind always be at your back, Senator.
That eulogy is THE political eulogy of our time. Kennedy embodied the great tradition of noblesse oblige, so absent from the new breed of pampered politicians of today on both sides of the aisle. Whatever his personal failings, he reminded us that our genuinely altruistic efforts to come to the aid others in need are our greatest legacy. Ave atque vale!