When I heard the news Wednesday morning, I woke up to the radio. My clock ran a little ahead of time, and since I did not hear a headline, I had to deduce that something happened. Hoping against hope, I eventually heard the line closing the hour's news that Senator Kennedy had died overnight. As I got ready for my day, NPR went in the background, and more than once I teared up.
So many others have reflected on Ted Kennedy. The New York Times Opinionator Blog has a great collection of things people said about him. I probably cannot add much more in value, but since blogging is as much a selfish cathartic act, I will partake in my own reflections.
My contact with Ted Kennedy came from my mother who loved his two older brothers, John and Robert. She particularly held Robert in high regard and remembers his assassination quite well. Ted, marred by Chappaquiddick and his alcohol, always seemed to be a disappointment. Like so many, she constantly thought of his brothers.
Yet, Ted Kennedy rose to meet the challenge and exceeded them. What makes him so unique is that he did all of this in spite of all the problems. Yes, he grew up privileged. However, he did endure the tragedy of seeing three of his brothers killed. He had to deal with John's advisors working against his run for the Massachusetts Senate seat. As Chappaquiddick shows, he had great flaws. Yet, he reached out to people. People living in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts said that he and his wonderful staff would always work hard to help them with the little things. He really did love people, and that showed.
Beyond that, Kennedy was a brilliant legislator. He started in the Senate, and slowly worked his way up. When he lost the nomination in 1980, it may have served him well, for he dedicated himself to the work in the Senate. Kennedy developed his skills in a sort of modern era of great Senators, like Philip Hart. Kennedy always knew how to compromise legislatively without compromising his goals. He and his staff were always willing to help other Senators as well fit into the strange institution and showed a deep desire to work to find common ground for the common good. After all, one of his best friends and legislative partners was conservative Senator Orrin Hatch, with whom he often argued strenuously, but at the end of the day embraced.
The words used to describe Kennedy was the Liberal Lion. He gave voice to the weak and the powerless. He gave us all inspiration as to our abilities in many ways to transcend our petty differences and human failings. In so many ways, he reflected the type of values I held, and taught me a certain way of carrying myself in the world of policy and politics.
Talking with my mother the other day, she conceded that she finally realized now how much Kennedy had done. He was a great speaker, but he was a workhorse. So much of the best of what he did were stories of getting involved in the nitty gritty details of legislation and small feats that touched the lives of individuals. Not just through longevity, but through this practical idealism, Ted helped create for himself a practical legacy that may actually outshine his more famous brothers. Health care? Ted Kennedy is probably there. Education policy? Teddy's fingers are all over it. Civil Rights? Ted Kennedy was a protector of them.
Kennedy perhaps is one of the last great institutional members of the United States Senate still serving. With his passing, really only Senator Robert Byrd, who revolutionized Senate procedures, remains. Byrd himself is sick and deteriorating to the point of slowing down. In that sense then Kennedy's departure leaves a void in the Senate. No longer is there a Senator who serves his constituents but also transcends some larger stage and really enjoys the work of the Senate with no eye towards something more. Perhaps Senator Inouye may fit the bill of an institution, but he has less of the overt known quantity feel than Kennedy or Byrd.
As I sat that morning of his death, the most poignant moment for me came from the speech. It was the 1980 Democratic convention concession speech. Kennedy sounded more like a winner than one conceding. He outlined clearly his personal ideals and vision for America. It is political speech, but it is rousing. The last line in many ways is famous and Kennedy echoed it again during his speech in support of Barack Obama. It echoes the famous statement in Pirkei Avot about not completing the work and not being free to desist. That line caused me to lose it. Yet, it also inspired me once again to honor this man through living a life of justice and good deeds.
So I end with Kennedy's own words. Even without him here in this world, we must rededicate ourselves and realize that "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."
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