Ted

I’m sad… It’s not like we didn’t know Senator Edward M. Kennedy was going to die from the brain cancer diagnosed last year. I guess I’m more – for lack of a better word – awed. For me, Teddy Kennedy’s been a constant presence in Congress and as the spiritual head of my party for my entire life – hell, almost for my mother’s entire life, too.

So the notion that Ted Kennedy may be one of the most influential American politicians in history is kind of mundane, like saying that Meryl Streep is a great actress. It’s true, but easy to take for granted. Until you start reading the eulogies.

Here’s a partial list of things that Americans of my generation think of as self-evident that we wouldn’t have if not for Ted Kennedy:
- The Civil Rights Act of 1964;
- The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which abolished quotas and resulted in the explosion of immigration from non-European nations;
- The National Cancer Act of 1971, which started the “war on cancer” and increased federal funding for prevention and research;
- The Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which condemned the South African government and demanded the release of Nelson Mandela;
- The Americans with Disability Act;
- The Ryan White Care Act, which funds care for low-income AIDS patients;
- The State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or S-CHIP, which funds health care for low-income children;
- “Borking,” or the politically motivated torpedoing of a presidential appointee, named after Reagan Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, whom Kennedy just destroyed in a committee hearing.
- OSHA, which keeps your employer from setting you on fire;
- And of course, the idea that health care is a right, not a privilege.

It’s kind of ironic that Ted, the youngest Kennedy brother, isn’t worshipped like his brothers John or Bobby. No one’s written songs about Teddy. And yet he’s the Kennedy who’ll go down in history as changing the face of America in many ways. And though he was a proud liberal, never dissembling or insisting that he was a moderate, Kennedy was rarely partisan (except for the Bork thing). In fact, when President George W. Bush took office, the first legislator he approached on a major issue was Ted Kennedy, who bears some of the responsibility (or blame, depending on your viewpoint) for passing No Child Left Behind.

His personal issues have been well documented, and I’m not going to defend him for those. To paraphrase Kennedy himself, I don’t have any interest in politicians’ private lives as long as their issues don’t affect their work.

Instead, I’m grateful for the leadership and service of a man who unapologetically insisted that the “haves” are obligated to serve the country and help lift up the “have-nots.” We’ll miss that leadership in the days and years to come.