Remembering Senator Kennedy

In the early summer of 1988, my father and I spent a few weeks in Boston. It was at a time when one of my brothers was totally focused on the events in Dallas in ’63. My father used to say that it was more important to focus on how the Kennedy brothers had lived, than on how they died.

One of the things he wanted to impress upon me was the source of Ted Kennedy’s political power. Obviously, Ted was born into a wealthy family. His father had been a US ambassador, and his brothers were influential politicians. But my father wanted to show me something that he considered to be the real source of Ted Kennedy’s unique position in politics.

My father and I would head out of the hotels we were staying in, and he’d say, "Now just listen." And he would begin discussions with almost anyone and everyone – people on the street, taxi drivers, waiters, the people on bar stools next to us, and the clerks in stores – saying that we were visiting from New York, and were curious what they thought of Senator Ted Kennedy?

After a few days of this, my father said that I should always remember this, because it was something that Ted Kennedy himself knew very well: his political power came primarily from the people who backed him. His relationship with those people was the proper one for a leader to have: they were invested in him, and he was invested in representing them.

There will be politicians who talk about Ted Kennedy, and the connections between his death and the debate on health care reform, in the upcoming days and weeks. But, if I learned anything from that time I spent with my father in Boston, the most important thing will be found in how the many people who admired and respected Senator Kennedy respond. We should focus on the lessons of his life, and step up our efforts to pressure the politicians in Washington, DC, to make meaningful health care reform a living reality.

Excellent post. Whenever I would call Kennedy's office it would be to thank them for a position or action on something, not to urge them to do the right thing for MA - that came naturally for Ted.

The people of Massachusetts have lost our Lion today. I was always proud to vote for Senator Kennedy because I knew he always voted for me.

particularly after watching GEM$NBC and GENBC staffers believe the Kennedy story is about them.

Rec

not them, the corporations.

That's what I admired most about him. He was a great man who carried out his duties with integrity.

:kick:

He will be missed.

Beyond words

Do not be distracted by any of the nonsense on tv or the internet. Keep focused on what is real.

"We should focus on the lessons of his life, and step up our efforts to pressure the politicians in Washington, DC, to make meaningful health care reform a living reality."

My grandfather was a beat cop in a New England mill town. Not much money in mill towns in those days, yet he related the same kind of stories from walking his beat.

"He was never defeatist," Biden said. "He never was petty. Never was petty. He was never small. And in the process of his doing, he made everybody he worked with bigger, both his adversaries, as well as his allies ... He changed the circumstances of tens of millions of Americans and in a literal sense literally, literally. he changed the circumstances ... not only the physical circumstances, he changed how they looked at themselves and how they looked at one another." Later he added, "The unique thing about Teddy was he was never about him. It was always about you. It was never about him."

Knew it would be a blow. And knew you would bring a great truth to us all today.

Thank you, and strength to you.

We can always count on you to post something of substance.

K&R

Well said H20 Man! :toast:

people should post historical info on Teddy. That would be the best thing to do now. Post the positive and drown out the negative.

interesting MSNBC special on about the Kennedy brothers tonight. It had been scheduled for tomorrow, and I think it was a good thing to move it up. Most of it is familiar for older DUers -- film clips that we've seen many, mant times -- but it's definitely worth watching.

BTW - just received my book on sociopathy...

--imm

to everyone participating on this thread. Much appreciated.