Senator Ted Kennedy:

Towards a globally friendlier America

Late Senator Ted Kennedy, the last of the most storied family in America, sought the “American Idea” to be validated ultimately by human experience, so it could not deviate from its core elements of English legal tradition, French Enlightenment thought, or the inherent Republican values of Greece and Rome. He passionately injected his native Irish optimism into American politics striving to reach that higher ground amidst near insurmountable odds.

Doing that, he may have won a majority of adherents to his way of thinking with his deep commitment to liberalism. He believed in a world-friendlier America, coaxing friend and foe to his cause, a redemptive instead of a confrontational American ideal.

Characteristically, it was the first Black President of American, Barack Obama, the embodiment of what Kennedy had sincerely envisioned for America, and who eulogized Kennedy as the greatest Senator of our generation.

Senator Ted Kennedy

Many now recall how Senator Ted Kennedy’s presence at the Democratic Party state convention in Alaska in April, 1968 as a fledgling, filling in for his brother Robert became a defining moment of his life. Martin Luther King had been assassinated. That civil rights movement locked in Ted Kennedy’s place in history.

That merger of two events through the convergence of his talk on Dr. King’s assassination and his brother’s assassination weeks later gave a pre-destined aura to Ted which never left him. The commitment to build a stronger and fairer America, a more perfect union, was deeply ingrained in the fiber of Ted Kennedy, and what he believed in, and why he served.

His fierce fight in the Senate in 2007 to annul the illegal telephone-tapping during the Bush administration also demonstrated his dedication to the principles of liberalism he espoused all his life. President Bush had threatened to veto any bill that did not give retroactive immunity to telephone companies that had done the illegal telephone tapping.

Fellow Senator Chris Dodd who worked with Kennedy to castigating the wrong-doers during that debate, in a statement last week said: “I will always remember Teddy as the ultimate example for all of us who seek to serve, a hero for those Americans in the shadow of life who so desperately needed one.

He worked tirelessly to lift Americans out of poverty, advance the cause of civil rights, and provide opportunity to all. He fought to the very end for the cause of his life - ensuring that all Americans have the healthcare they need.”

His family already in mourning, for the death of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver two weeks earlier, expressed their grief poignantly thus “we lost the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply - at home in Hyannis Port, an 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.”

Authored 300 bills

Often dubbed the last of the Mohicans-the Indian tribe of Uncas, for his unassailable negotiating skills when meeting with the almost stoically unreceptive Republicans, he easily sailed into history books authoring 300 bills in the Senate that were considered the summation of civil rights, labour protection edits and regulations favourable to less cumbersome immigration processes combined into one palatable liberal cocktail unprecedented in the annals of US Senate.

He helped pass the ‘no child left-behind’ legislation of George W. Bush. It was unrivalled.

He worked hand-in-hand with President Barack Obama in enacting the new healthcare Bill, which was Kennedy’s avowed cause. President Obama considered him almost indispensible in that effort. Obama was one of the first to pay Kennedy tribute. He was the junior senator from Illinois when he decided to run for Presidency. Kennedy championed Obama’s decision with an endorsement that gave the lifted the campaign at a crucial moment in the primary season last year. They have been trusted allies since then. Obama called Kennedy was “one of the most accomplished Senators of our times.” Ted, the youngest son of late Joseph Kennedy, one of the most talked about families in American politics, took triumph and tragedy in his stride. His legislative record of over 2,500 Bills introduced in the Senate during his 47 year Senate stint is almost unsurpassable.

Rabelaisian humour

Edward Kennedy, often described as Rabelaisian, characterized by broad, bawdy wit and sharp satire after the work of the French writer, Fran‡ois Rabelais never made a dull speech. The repartee amidst heated Senatorial debates was memorable. Somebody once had a snide retort returning the favour in typical Kennedy fashion thus “Bill Clinton makes billions after staining the blue dress of an intern and old Ted Kennedy is still in the Senate after killing a girl. ... Francois Rabelais thinks the cops were scared to nail him.” Senator Edward M. Kennedy took such slings in his stride.

The tragic accident that caused the drowning death on Chappaquiddick Island of a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, a former aide to his brother Robert nearly ended Ted Kennedy’s political life. He fought back and gained back his lost prestige.

He was also remembered for his efforts to calm trouble spots like Northern Ireland, South Africa and Chile, where the Government arranged demonstrations against him when he arrived there on a trip in 1986. United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said he had been “a voice for those who would otherwise go unheard.”

It was also echoed by President Obama who said that “his ideas and ideals are stamped on scores of laws and reflected in millions of lives” adding: “all those can pursue their dream in an American that is more equal and more just-including myself.”

He said Senator Kennedy’s counsel continued once Obama left the Senate and moved to the White House. “I’ve profited as President from his encouragement and wisdom”, he said vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, just across the Nantucket Sound from where Kennedy died at his home on Cape Cod. White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that President expressed his condolences in a telephone call to Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, at about 2.25 a.m. the day he died.

Kennedy mystique

Kennedy was the last surviving brother of a generation of Kennedys that dominated American politics in the 1960s. Media dubbed it political idealism mixed with glamour and untimely death. The Kennedy mystique - some critics called it the Kennedy myth - had held the imagination of the world for decades, and it came ultimately to rest on the broad shoulders of the youngest brother known as Teddy.

He was the most well-known Democrat in the Senate, longer than all but two other senators, was the only one of those brothers to reach old age. President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy were felled by assassins’ bullets in their 40s. The eldest brother, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., died in 1944 at the age of 29 while on a risky World War II bombing mission.

Ted electrified the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August, 2008 with an unscheduled appearance and speech that had delegates on their feet. Many were in tears.

His gait was halting, but his voice resonated among the audience. “My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here, and nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight,” Kennedy said. “I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and to elect Barack Obama President of the United States.”

He was a memorable figure in the Senate and was described my many as refreshingly life-like, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. The Bostonians loved to adore their celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character that persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.

Born to one of the wealthiest American families, Kennedy spoke for the downtrodden in his public life while inviting harsh criticism for living the heedless private life of a playboy and a rake for many of his years. Many dismissed him early in his career as a lightweight and an unworthy successor to his revered brothers.

The Republicans came to realize that he had grown and matured over time by sheer longevity and by hewing to liberal principles while often crossing the partisan aisle to enact legislation. Reportedly, a man of unbridled appetites at times, he nevertheless brought a discipline to his public work that resulted in an impressive catalogue of legislative achievement across a broad landscape of social policy.

Kennedy had less impact on foreign policy than on domestic concerns, but when he spoke his voice was influential. He led the Congressional effort to impose sanctions on South Africa over apartheid, pushed for peace in Northern Ireland, won a ban on arms sales to the dictatorship in Chile and denounced the Vietnam War.

In 2002, he voted against authorizing the Iraq war; later, he called that opposition “the best vote I’ve made in my 44 years in the United States Senate.”