I was hoping that sometime in October or November, when it came to count votes on the Senate floor, the chamber doors would swing open. In would limp Teddy Kennedy, who nobody imagined would be there but somehow expected he would. There, he would cast the final affirmative vote to ensure universal care for Americans.
High theater perhaps, but health care was his cause, and who doesn’t like to see a good story in the paper? Alas, such storybook endings were not meant to be. Teddy Kennedy died last night, and Obama called him “the greatest senator of our times.” I’m not one to make such judgments, but no one can deny the impact he had on everything from public service to helping the downtrodden to redefining the impact one man can have amongst one hundred politicians.
A flawed man, certainly, not without his faults. In that, however, Kennedy gives hope to others who similarly liked to have perhaps a bit too much fun when they were younger that someday they may rise above and transcend that. He was oft parodied – most of Mayor Quimby on The Simpsons is based on him, but to this I say, who doesn’t love Mayor Quimby?
As the Times wrote:
He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.The NYT and Globe have terrific and expansive obits certainly worth reading. I’m sure there will be many more things written in the coming days. Unfortunately, Kennedy didn’t see his lifelong cause come to fruition, and with some luck, universal coverage will come into existence soon. Maybe his death will galvanize the movement. That would be a fitting tribute indeed.
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