Kennedy: 'Better the world, better ourselves'
Massachusetts, my natal state, might be true blue, and it might be a bastion of liberalism, but, having covered court-ordered busing there in the 1970s -- and having heard racist protesters jeer and ridicule with jarring vulgarity Ted Kennedy in the midst of it -- and having seen various relatives and friends, registered Democrats, swoon over Republican governors -- Weld and Romney -- I figured some day voters of the Bay State would send Uncle Teddy into retirement.
The best chance of that came in 1994, when Romney challenged Kennedy. The Democratic incumbent was said to have been vulnerable that year -- old-style activist liberalism was out, even in Massachusetts, and a new tide of Contract-with-America conservatism was about to sweep the country.
But the rule of thumb about Massachusetts politics proved true in the face of all that -- anyone with a suit could get 42 percent of the vote against Teddy Kennedy, but no one could get 50.
In the 1994 general election, Romney didn't even get 42 percent. His vote percentage was 41. Kennedy's was 58.
Kennedy spent $10 million on his campaign, Romney $7 million.
Romney subsequently won election as Massachusetts governor and, last year, ran for president.
Kennedy went from being an embarrassment to a respected elder. His transformation from fratboy-manchild of the U.S. Senate to its lion is one of the most interesting stories in American politics. People throughout the land wonder about Kennedy's staying power -- why the voters of Massachusetts kept re-electing him in the face of the Reagan revolution and post-revolution, and in the face of Kennedy's troubled personal life.
But don't forget: He became a U.S. senator at the age of 30. Relatively speaking, he was a boy. He'd taken his older brother's seat in 1962. JFK was assassinated the following year. Five years later, Bobby Kennedy was murdered in Los Angeles.
With all that -- the tragedy and martyrdom, the extraordinary sacrifices of one family in service to the public -- Massachusetts voters would never abandon Teddy Kennedy, the little brother.
Not even after Mary Jo Kopechne's death on Martha's Vineyard.
Much fuss was made last month about the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 mission to the moon, but this was the first time in a long time I did not hear -- probably because I host a radio show and its broadcast hours conflict with Rush Limbaugh's -- references to the 40th anniversary of Chappaquiddick, the accident and death of Mary Jo Kopechne having occurred on the same historic weekend as the lunar landing. His behavior in Chappaquiddick meant the then 37-year-old Kennedy would never become president of the United States.
But it didn't keep him from winning re-election -- in 1970, the very next year -- to the Senate.
There were other embarrassing moments in Ted Kennedy's life -- drinking, womanizing, questions about his behavior when a nephew was accused of rape in Florida -- but in a 1991 speech at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard (the university from which he'd been dismissed 40 years earlier for cheating on an exam) Ted Kennedy took responsibility for "faults in the conduct of my private life" and pledged to change.
Eventually he grew up, restored his integrity and settled into a long run of serious public service, a reliable and committed liberal associated with, among many good causes, a decades-old effort to make health insurance affordable and accessible to every American.
The last 18 years of Edward M. Kennedy's career were the most productive and the most impressive, and he seemed to keep faith with the words he spoke at Harvard in that public mea culpa: "Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in -- and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves. Today, more than ever before, I believe that each of us as individuals must not only struggle to make a better world, but to make ourselves better, too. And in this life, those endeavors are never finished."
Rest in peace, EMK.
Comments
The INCIDENT on Marthas Vinyard? You really minimized what a piece of garbage he was that day. He deserved prison not praise. Ever wonder what Mary Jo could have would have done with her life.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 26, 2009 6:42 AM
Ah, I see that the right-wing internet trolls have already come out of the woodwork to speak ill of a man who has been dead for less than 24 hours.
Stay classy, "Anonymous".
Posted by: MCG | August 26, 2009 8:17 AM
Honestly, I have to agree with Anonymous above.... The incident is vehicular homicide..He should have served a prison sentence, not a senate term following the rashly put "little incident". He represents a guy that (because his family ties) got 20 chances in a country that usually gives you one, if your lucky.
Posted by: Robert | August 26, 2009 8:39 AM
I presume Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment?
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | August 26, 2009 8:43 AM
MCG, initials, pretty anonymous! What about that woman? I guess you would have prefered her name stay anonymous, you sound like the troll
Posted by: Richard Elmy | August 26, 2009 8:46 AM
A Feudal Lord expires. There will be many more to take his place. Lived like Royalty and owed his place to family wealth/status. Sorry for the individual, but no mourning here for the "loss" of a misplaced and unnecessary Lord of America.
Posted by: Phil in Columbia | August 26, 2009 8:48 AM
Wow, Alexander, if I had known what a callous human being that you are, I wouldn't have bought your book about Baltimore. If you happen to outlive Laura Bush, are you going to make jokes about the person that she killed when she ran that stop sign?
Posted by: MCG | August 26, 2009 9:27 AM
Kennedy did more to destroy the USA than any other politician in history--in 1965, he wrote a bill limiting the number of immigrants from Europe(whites) and increasing immigration by blacks and browns--Kennedy said then, that this change in immigration policy “would have no effect” on the white majority that made up the US population (92% in 1965)--today, whites are 70% of US population--whites will be a minority in the US by 2050-Kennedy changed the US forever--soon to be a 3rd world nation....
Posted by: flyingcow | August 26, 2009 9:29 AM
I was no fan of the man, or the entire corrupt Kennedy clan, but may God have mercy on his soul.
Posted by: maxpremium | August 26, 2009 9:56 AM
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/laura.asp
Laura Welch was 17 at the time of the accident, did not flee the scene of the accident, and was not charged.
Furthermore, I never voted for Laura Bush. No do I think anyone else did.
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | August 26, 2009 10:55 AM
MCG... are you seriously trying to compare an accident by a 17 year old sober girl to that of a drunken married man?
Posted by: jb | August 26, 2009 11:25 AM
It would seem his "dream" was to put us all in deep debt for generations.
Mission Accomplished!!
Posted by: Aman | August 26, 2009 11:59 AM
"Kennedy went from being an embarrassment to a respected elder." Sorry, Dan, he has ALWAYS been an embarrassment.
The liberal press can attempt to canonize that shameless opportunist all they want.
Teddy's never-ending barrage of incoherent left-wing pablum will not rate him as the "greatest senator" by any stretch of the imagination.
Posted by: the Angelus | August 26, 2009 12:09 PM
Ah yes, what Chappaquiddick did for the Kennedy legacy, so much like what Bush II did for his.
No, wait, more people died. Never mind.
Posted by: Paul_D | August 26, 2009 12:50 PM
Thank you Dan for this brief but substantive chronology of some of the key aspects of Senator Kennedy's life. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, COBRA, Title IX - all legislative acts with which Senator Kennedy is closely associated - changed American life to the good. Let us all remember the good things Senator Kennedy did, and pray for his peaceful repose.
Posted by: De Nemours | August 26, 2009 1:04 PM
Just another example of why we are represented by the wrong individuals. Why didn't this man retire and allow the state of Massachusetts a chance to vote for a replacement so the state could be represented? I'll tell you why: narcissistic, greedy, insensitive people who stay in office for DECADES are out of touch with the job responsibilities they agreed to in taking the office. And the stupid, incompetent voters who just reflexively keep these losers in place for DECADES deserve the lousy representation they get.
I am sorry for the family for Ted Kennedy's passing, but I will not mince words, I am glad he is not in office anymore. Another example of"what's in it for me first" in this society. And that goes for any Republican incompetent, er, incumbent as well.
Signed by an independent voter who can't wait for a viable third party to gain traction in this pathetic one party system of republocrats!
Posted by: jhh | August 26, 2009 1:53 PM
That’s a terrible thing for American…and the world; we all lost a great man and also a long legacy of family patriots and supporters to the American people and politics. We will miss you. Condolences to the family.
Posted by: derek demos | August 26, 2009 2:25 PM
Hey "flying cow"—loved your webpage link!
Truly, the words of the prophets (& the politically incorrect) are written on obscure web sites!
Posted by: Jeremiah | August 26, 2009 2:43 PM
My, what dreadful people are popping out of their holes, today.
DR: This is nothing. You should read the vulgar, racist ones I just delete. (Then again, I think there's enough of that garbage elsewhere on this web site; I'm sure you can find it.)
Posted by: Bar | August 26, 2009 4:22 PM
The same people that judge Kennedy with their vile remarks are the same people that pound the bible and purport Christian values and are the same that cite the right to bare arms while supporting a police state in the inner harbor that requires we obey those that "serve and protect" and are the same that believe government should stay out of healthcare while accepting Medicare benefits and social security checks. Hypocrites all - it is tiring, but I assume that is goal, because so many cannot be so ignorant.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 26, 2009 6:28 PM
I have a bone or two to pick here.
Oooh, Flyingcow, you have some outdated ideas! It isn't the color of the skin of the inhabitants that makes a third-world country, it's the lack of opportunity.
I wish you the maturity to rexamine your assumptions. It is high time you start realizing that skin color has nothing to do with an individual's true worth - including your own. There's no such thing as a "best" race.
Me, I'm delighted to live in a mixed neighborhood, and for my money, anyone who has the gumption and ability to find their way here and make an honest living is contributing as much to this great country as I am.
JHH, you and I share the same initials but we definitely don't share the same POV!
How does working endlessly for universal health care amount to "what's in it for me?" Teddy Kennedy was born to enough money that he never had to get into politics, much less stay there. Bear in mind that Massachusetts voters could have "retired" him at any time if they'd found somebody they liked better, but they didn't. He had the increasingly rare ability to work with just about anybody. I predict we are all going to miss him.
Peace!
Jane
Posted by: Jane Horsman | August 28, 2009 12:39 PM