Teddy Kennedy (1932-2009) Part 2

I don't remember Teddy before about 1972. This means that the Teddy I knew was already well known as very flawed man. I never knew him as the "heir to Camelot" as it was seen in the 1960's. I knew him as a respected, liberal Democratic Senator whose personal flaws had probably cost him a chance at the presidency. His name would come up repeatedly as a potential presidential candidate even after his failure in 1980. By the time of his divorce in 1982, his philandering and that of his brothers were well known. He was also well known as a hard and frequent drinker. In other words, my first impressions of Teddy were more as a great sinner than a great man.

In 1980 I did prefer him to Jimmy Carter, probably in part out of my own romanticized view of his lost brothers. I loved his speech before the 1980 convention. I loved his call to not abandon the liberal values that defined the party more than it had when JFK was president. But Teddy wasn't Jack or Bobby. Niether of those men were interested in the legislative branch. Teddy was. He became a senator only a few months after I was born in 1962 when I am sure he thought it very unlikely that he would ever seriously be considered a president and always a president's little brother. He became something Jack and Bobby never were -- a real Senator.

In many memorials I've seen and read today, 1980 is marked as the year that Teddy dedicated himself to the Senate as he gave up the drive for the presidency. I agree that he had released himself from the obligation to run for the presidency after 1980, but to say he became serious about his Senate career only after that date ignores all the efforts between 1962 and 1980 that I posted earlier today. By 1980 Teddy was already 11 years into his effort at universal health care. He had expanded rights and opportunities for many with efforts ranging from Title IX to rights for the disabled. He championed in 1965 what one writer referred to as his greatest accomplishments, a new immigration law that eneded the era of a discriminatory quota system that favored northern Europeans over all others. Teddy helped bring the US the talents of the more diverse population we have today.

What changed in 1980 was American politics. The country turned more conservative. Liberal dreams were replaced with conservative ones that attacked and sought to destroy many of the accomplishments of liberalism. Teddy became "the Liberal Lion" who fought back against Reaganism and all its conservative Republican successors. Yes, he would make Republican friends and be willing to make pragmatic deals with his ideological rivals. In doing so, he would also fiercely try to garner his fellow Democrats to block a reworking of the tax code to be more friendly to corporations and the rich, to preserve the right of women to be free of government intrusion into their decisions to be or not to be pregnant, and to resist the use of government for private gain instead of the greater good. Conservatives never liked Teddy, but as the last clear voice in the Senate for liberalism, he became the first and most persistent target of the direct market fundraising, right-wing radio talk show and op-ed pieces. Through the last 29 years of his life he became a hero to liberals and a devil to conservatives.

Somewhere along the way, Teddy also shed his hard drinking and skirt chasing. I do not know when or how. Maybe it was falling in love with his second wife. Maybe it was the shame of having to testifyin court about his partying at a relative's sexual assault trial. Maybe it was finally growing up as he grew older. Maybe he final heard the better angels of his nature. I don't know. Whatever it was, the party boy retired and Legislator continued.

Teddy's record continued to grow more impressive as the Republicans ruled. He did what he could when he could. Health care reform efforts under Pres. Clinton failed, but a year later he was leading the way with a bill on health insurance portability and a year after that he led the pasage of SCHIP which would enable millions of children to gain health care. He would pass a bill to try to improve education with Pres. George W. Bush, but spend the rest of Bush's presidency demanding the funding that Teddy (and lots of states and school districts) knew was needed to make the program a success and not a burden. He failed to slow W's push to go to war in Iraq but he would lead efforts to adequately armor those we had sent to fight and to provide for those fighters upon their return.

By the time his brain cancer was made public last year and it increasingly became clear that his time on this planet was short, he was simply "the Lion of the Senate." Accept to those for whom hatred has become their main focus, Teddy's ideology had been surpassed by an unprecedented legislative record. Both the late Strom Thurmond and 91-year-old but still serving Senator Robert Byrd have longer Senate careers, but neither can touch Teddy's record of achievement. Byrd was Senate Majority Leader for two years in the late 1980s, but his role among the leadership has (like too many recent Democratic Senate Majority Leaders) no great accomplishments.

So after almost 4 decades of following the career of Teddy Kennedy, what is my conclusion?

Great sinners can be great men.

Truly, Teddy was both. He did great harm to himself and others with thoughtless and, at times, cruel and opportunistic acts. This should not be erased from his obituaries. But in his almost 47 years of public service, his record is one of serving others who lack the privileges that protected him. If Teddy too easily followed the ways of those who consider themselves above the routine rules and morals of those less privileged, he also relentlessly sought to use the powers of government and his power within government to help so many who were not born to or helped by a privilege.

Perhaps (and I always hedge on thoughts such as these), God's mercy towards humans comes from the knowledge that great sinners can be great men and women. And since we are all sinners, we are all capable of greatness. We don't have to match Teddy's Senate record, we just have to remember his example that our sinful natures are no excuse for failing to help others.

Thanks, Teddy.