Michael Barone: Ted Kennedy, Liberal Lion Of The Senate. RIP.
Ted Kennedy, Liberal Lion Of the Senate
Good-humored and gregarious, he had an Irish pol's ability to work with all sides.
By MICHAEL BARONE
When Edward Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962, no one predicted he would become a master legislator, a liberal hero, "the lion of the Senate"—as not only Democrats but some Republicans called him. He got his chance at age 30 for the same reason his brother Robert was appointed attorney general at age 35: because his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, insisted on it. Joseph Kennedy, a prominent Massachusetts businessman and FDR's ambassador to Great Britain from 1938-1940, also played no small role in the election of his son John, then 43, as president in 1960.
When he took office, Ted Kennedy's résumé was brief. He'd been expelled from Harvard for cheating on a Spanish exam, served without incident in the Army, graduated from Harvard and the University of Virginia Law School, worked briefly as a prosecutor in Boston, and was Rocky Mountain states coordinator for his brother's presidential campaign. John had campaigned for president as a hawk on foreign policy who would increase defense spending and as a moderate on domestic policy who sidestepped the burning issue of civil rights. In his first few years Ted seemed similarly moderate, especially in comparison to Robert. But he was an active legislator. In 1965, for example, he was floor manager for the immigration bill that removed the tight restrictions of the 1920s.
The assassinations of his brothers made him a potential presidential candidate. But he turned down the late Mayor Richard Daley's offer to nominate him at the 1968 national convention in Chicago. A year later, he drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island off the Massachusetts coast. Ted Kennedy swam away but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. His failure to notify authorities of the accident removed him for at least a time from any presidential consideration.
Nevertheless, he was re-elected to the Senate and served continuously until his death yesterday. Like his brothers, he attracted first-rate staffers and he won their undying loyalty by working hard to master the details of legislation. Good-humored and gregarious, he turned out to have an Irish pol's ability to work cooperatively with members of both parties, a strong enough command of policy to reach compromises in the heat of negotiations, and a steady enough temperament to keep his word when pressed to renege.
He had both an instinct for aggressive political attack and a broad streak of personal kindness. The same Ted Kennedy who launched a viciously unfair, if effective, attack on Judge Robert Bork when he was nominated for the Supreme Court in 1987 could also invite a freshman Republican colleague's children to see the Kennedy family memorabilia he kept in his Senate hideaway office. He forged working relationships with Senate Republicans such as Utah's Orrin Hatch and Wyoming's Mike Enzi, resulting in legislation on various health and education issues such as No Child Left Behind in 2002—and also, it seems, genuinely warm friendships.
It is one of the mysteries of American politics how the cool centrism of John Kennedy became the passionate liberalism that is taken now as the Kennedy family legacy. Like many rich men in politics, Ted Kennedy came to believe that his mission was to produce economic security for those who started off with none of his advantages. He saw himself as a warrior in a long struggle, making whatever gains were possible at any time and waiting for the moment more could be done. On health-care reform, a signature issue, he steadfastly backed expansion of the government's role as provider and steadfastly opposed market-oriented approaches.
In 1979, his convictions, and perhaps some personal pique, led him to challenge Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was an ill-fated campaign from the moment he was unable to convincingly answer Roger Mudd's question about why he was running. He stayed in the race long after he had no chance to win. At the bitterly contested convention he delivered a dramatic and much celebrated encomium to liberalism, "the dream shall never die."
Ted Kennedy's death yesterday comes when the health-care legislation he long sought and the president he heartily endorsed are both in some political trouble. His dream of an ever more expansive federal government seems not to have inspired as many Americans as he hoped. While he leaves the contemporary political stage, the man who served longer in the U.S. Senate than all but two others is now an indelible part of our political history.
Mr. Barone is senior political analyst at the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
Good-humored and gregarious, he had an Irish pol's ability to work with all sides.
By MICHAEL BARONE
When Edward Kennedy was first elected to the Senate in 1962, no one predicted he would become a master legislator, a liberal hero, "the lion of the Senate"—as not only Democrats but some Republicans called him. He got his chance at age 30 for the same reason his brother Robert was appointed attorney general at age 35: because his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, insisted on it. Joseph Kennedy, a prominent Massachusetts businessman and FDR's ambassador to Great Britain from 1938-1940, also played no small role in the election of his son John, then 43, as president in 1960.
When he took office, Ted Kennedy's résumé was brief. He'd been expelled from Harvard for cheating on a Spanish exam, served without incident in the Army, graduated from Harvard and the University of Virginia Law School, worked briefly as a prosecutor in Boston, and was Rocky Mountain states coordinator for his brother's presidential campaign. John had campaigned for president as a hawk on foreign policy who would increase defense spending and as a moderate on domestic policy who sidestepped the burning issue of civil rights. In his first few years Ted seemed similarly moderate, especially in comparison to Robert. But he was an active legislator. In 1965, for example, he was floor manager for the immigration bill that removed the tight restrictions of the 1920s.
The assassinations of his brothers made him a potential presidential candidate. But he turned down the late Mayor Richard Daley's offer to nominate him at the 1968 national convention in Chicago. A year later, he drove off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island off the Massachusetts coast. Ted Kennedy swam away but his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, drowned. His failure to notify authorities of the accident removed him for at least a time from any presidential consideration.
Nevertheless, he was re-elected to the Senate and served continuously until his death yesterday. Like his brothers, he attracted first-rate staffers and he won their undying loyalty by working hard to master the details of legislation. Good-humored and gregarious, he turned out to have an Irish pol's ability to work cooperatively with members of both parties, a strong enough command of policy to reach compromises in the heat of negotiations, and a steady enough temperament to keep his word when pressed to renege.
He had both an instinct for aggressive political attack and a broad streak of personal kindness. The same Ted Kennedy who launched a viciously unfair, if effective, attack on Judge Robert Bork when he was nominated for the Supreme Court in 1987 could also invite a freshman Republican colleague's children to see the Kennedy family memorabilia he kept in his Senate hideaway office. He forged working relationships with Senate Republicans such as Utah's Orrin Hatch and Wyoming's Mike Enzi, resulting in legislation on various health and education issues such as No Child Left Behind in 2002—and also, it seems, genuinely warm friendships.
It is one of the mysteries of American politics how the cool centrism of John Kennedy became the passionate liberalism that is taken now as the Kennedy family legacy. Like many rich men in politics, Ted Kennedy came to believe that his mission was to produce economic security for those who started off with none of his advantages. He saw himself as a warrior in a long struggle, making whatever gains were possible at any time and waiting for the moment more could be done. On health-care reform, a signature issue, he steadfastly backed expansion of the government's role as provider and steadfastly opposed market-oriented approaches.
In 1979, his convictions, and perhaps some personal pique, led him to challenge Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination. It was an ill-fated campaign from the moment he was unable to convincingly answer Roger Mudd's question about why he was running. He stayed in the race long after he had no chance to win. At the bitterly contested convention he delivered a dramatic and much celebrated encomium to liberalism, "the dream shall never die."
Ted Kennedy's death yesterday comes when the health-care legislation he long sought and the president he heartily endorsed are both in some political trouble. His dream of an ever more expansive federal government seems not to have inspired as many Americans as he hoped. While he leaves the contemporary political stage, the man who served longer in the U.S. Senate than all but two others is now an indelible part of our political history.
Mr. Barone is senior political analyst at the Washington Examiner, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
Labels: Fitting tribute, Passing away
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 8:08 AM
1 Comments:
I was sad to hear of his death. My condolences and prayers go out to his family.
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