The Lion Is Gone

cross-posted on Huffington Post, “The Liberals’ Liberal”

“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.” – Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has died of brain cancer. Only something so historic could bring me out from my brief writing break, my end of summer respite. Last week it was hinted, though as I have studied John F. Kennedy, I knew that when Sen. Kennedy passed, regardless of bravura statements that he might fly in to rescue a close vote, I knew this was Kennedy lore being spun again. So, Edward is gone. The Kennedy who dodged “the curse” lived 77 long years, able to achieve what his brothers could not, no matter the legend surrounding Joseph, the Kennedy who was supposed to be king but died in a daring mission in war, John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy, the darlings who died by assassins. With one of the greatest historical moments of modern times his eulogy of his brother, Robert F. Kennedy, the vision of this country clear in every sentence, as well as the purpose of every person who is driven by his or her passions for what can be for people. It applies to Edward M. Kennedy on his passing today:

… My brother 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.

Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world.

As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him:

“Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.”

Born of the closest thing America will know as royalty, Edward Kennedy gave his life to help those who had less, always endeavoring to make their lives better. It was a tenet of the Kennedy family to give, as much was expected of people who had everything. As a family man, he has served as the Kennedy patriarch for decades.

Kennedy’s first big job was managing John F. Kennedy’s re-election campaign to the Senate. After J.F.K. became president, Bobby A.G., Edward was too young to take his brother’s seat. So a “seat warmer” was appointed, Benjamin A. Smith 2d, a family friend, until the younger brother turned 30, when he entered the race, winning in a barn burner of an election. It was the start of an historic career. He happened to be presiding over the Senate on one particularly Friday when the nation cracked it two, Nov. 22, 1963. The next year Edward would have his own brush with death, as his small plane crashed while ferrying him to accept his re-election nomination for Senate, killing everyone on board, saving Kennedy; though Edward’s back was broken, along with several ribs. He did his job from bed while convalescing for months and months.

In 1965, Edward Kennedy returned to work in the Senate taking up the Voting Rights Act, which Lyndon Johnson was continuing after the murder of J.F.K., putting up an amendment to abolish the poll tax that ultimately failed. It was the era of Vietnam, but it would be his brother Bobby who inspired him to come out against the Vietnam War, which coincided with Bobby’s move to seek the presidency. An event that would cost him his life and take the remainder of America’s innocence.

“There is no safety in hiding,” he declared in a speech at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., in August. “Like my brothers before me, I pick up a fallen standard. Sustained by the memory of our priceless years together, I shall try to carry forward that special commitment to justice, excellence and courage that distinguished their lives.”

Then came 1969. The year that would change Kennedy’s life forever. Coming from a family of drinking and carousing lotharios, Edward was no different, but his adventures coincided with the sexual revolution that changed this country forever, also his life. Partying with former campaign workers on Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha’s Vineyard, in the wee hours, Kennedy drove a car carrying Mary Jo Kopechne off a very narrow bridge, sinking the car in around 8 feet of water, as is chronicled in the Washington Post today. Edward Kennedy did not report the accident for 10 full hours, saying he got so exhausted from trying to save the woman that he simply came home and went to bed. He plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident. The tragedy would unleash a torrent of questions and recriminations, some of which last to this day, that got so bad that Kennedy asked the voters of Massachusetts if he should resign. The voters said no, loudly. …and continued saying yes to Kennedy to keep him serving for 46 years. But the stain of Chappaquiddick lasted for the rest of his life, hovering over his dreams of the presidency that would always be an impediment for accomplishing his biggest dream.

The Carter – Kennedy collision began with Edward backing Carter, but it wouldn’t last. By 1978, draft Kennedy die hards sprung up in the face of Carter’s failing presidency and his inability to speak to the people in a time of malaise, a word Carter eventually made famous and enduring. When Kennedy announced his candidacy one of the things he said, as quoted today in the Post, encapsulated Carter’s presidency perfectly: “Our leaders have resigned themselves to defeat.” The campaign was an unmitigated disaster, with the ending his speech at the convention, a moment that will never be forgotten, but not before the campaign battle fractured the Democratic Party to smithereens. A moment of history that was teased about being replayed in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were battling for the nomination, though the rumors of a Carter-Kennedy repeat were mere hallucinations of deranged activists than anything as cataclysmic as what Kennedy managed against Carter being played out.

After his defeat in 1980, Kennedy reconciled himself that he would never be president, using the Reagan years to stand against everything the conservatives tried to do, especially when Reagan tried to weaken the Voting Rights Act. But it was the Americans with Disabilities Act that became Kennedy’s signature accomplishment, no doubt driven by his sister Rosemary’s mental handicaps. In 1994, Kennedy became one of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s strongest advocates for national health insurance, which he’d been working on since the late 60s. It was a disaster, but he kept pushing, also helping to enact S-Chip, as well as No Child Left Behind Act. But it was health care that he so longed to see manifest for the American people.

It was not to be, at least not in his lifetime.

There will be much speculation about what might have been, if Edward M. Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, had been present to roar once more, able to be out front on the current health care campaign. There can be little doubt that had he been well enough to become the face and force in public once again we would be looking at health care reform from a different place, for Edward had all the passion for this legislation that Pres. Obama lacks. But not even Kennedy could have stopped the “death panel” squeal of Sarah Palin, because the era of Kennedy politicians is gone. And I’m not just talking about the name. It’s about the passion to policy over polemics; the mission to work for the people above all else, including ego. There will never be another era of public servants represented by Edward M. Kennedy, who stands as the lion amidst legislative lambs.

A man who could never fulfill the dream of becoming president, but chose to be his own kingmaker, like his father, when Edward M. Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama for president, putting the Kennedy name behind a novice that the last Kennedy brother believed was the heir to their political throne. It was a move that fractured Democratic friendships of long standing, caused a rift with the last two-term Democratic president William Jefferson Clinton, ignited a war among activist partisans, and helped orchestrate one of the most powerful political pictures in modern campaign history. That moment when Teddy Kennedy, obviously ailing, stood beside Barack Obama, along with Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy’s sole surviving child, to pass the last torch to the newest generation, the finale of this dynastic family.

Edward Moore Kennedy, son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, friend, citizen of America and the greatest living senator in U.S. history, gone. He will never be forgotten. He cannot be replaced.

Statement from The Kennedy Family

“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. 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, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”

This post has been updated.