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Teddy

I have been holding my breath for a while, sending out little messages, waiting for the updates on Sen. Kennedy.

He said he would be there to watch the man he had supported, the carrier of the torch, take his oath as president of the United States of America. Most people, diagnosed with what he had, facing what he did, could not have imagined standing there in the stands, still a part of history. Teddy dreamed it, and there he was.

Then he collapsed at the lunch.

Maybe it was only a momentary setback. Maybe he'll be back in the Senate, this week or next, fighting for the sort of universal health insurance that 30 years ago when I worked for him people laughed at him for daring to support. Don't put it in the 1980 platform, for God's sake, I was told more than once. Do you want people to call Carter a socialist?

Teddy has always been a man ahead of his times.

Oh, yes, he made mistakes — big ones, huge ones, in his personal life. But when does the statute of limitations finally run out? When can I celebrate my first boss in politics without getting mired in a 40-year-old tragedy? He did wrong. He made amends. He spent the rest of his life making amends. It is more than I can say for most of the people I have known in politics.

I hope he was smiling, full of life, feeling the triumph on the Capitol steps this morning.

I hope it brought back, with joy and not pain, memories of earlier days, of half a century ago when his brother held his hand in the air. I hope he could be full of the hope that someday that brother's daughter would be standing with them in the Senate chambers.

It is hard for me to imagine a Senate without Ted. It is hard for me to imagine how hard he must have tried to get through the lunch, to get through the day, just that one day, without succumbing to his illness. If anyone could do it, he could. If he could not, it is because it couldn't be done.

There is no such thing, beyond a very young age, as pure joy. There is always the nagging sense of what's missing and who: for Barack Obama, no doubt, the mother and the grandmother who raised him, neither of whom lived to see him take the oath; and the senator who championed him, who blessed him with the most powerful legacy in Democratic politics and could not make it through lunch. We take the bitter with the sweet, because otherwise there would be no sweet.

Godspeed, Senator. Strength and peace. You deserve them. You made it, in more ways than one.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Comments

6 Comments | Post Comment

Ma'am; Clearly the job of Senator is one people can do with half a brain, or while sleeping on a matress full of cash... But I have to disagree with you... The best of the bunch isn't worth their weight in salt... They are useless, and worse than useless, they are undemocratic, as the office gives to little states the same power as small... We don't need it, and we will do better without them... But we do need a house representing the people at something like the ratio the constitution suggests... We have proved to ourselves the failure government can be when it rejects democracy... And Teddy is no more democratic than the bunch... He is just another rich guy taking care of the rich, and taking care of his party at the expense of the people... That is not what we need...We need the common man looking out for common people, and nothing else will do...Thanks...Sweeney

Comment: #1
Posted by: James A, Sweeney
Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:42 PM

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I am sorry but I do not admire Ted Kennedy. I am old enough to remember Mary Jo and how he allowed her to die. He has no right to talk about morals and I can not believe how Mass. could keep voting him in. The era of the Kennedy's is over (I am thankful) and that will be the change we need. I hope he has made peace with his God.

Comment: #2
Posted by: Kathaleen McCausland
Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:30 AM

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I sincerely enjoy Susan's columns. Although we are on complete opposite ends of the political spectrum she is usually fair when questioned about her party. I also appreciate her loyalty to Sen. Kennedy because of their past working relationship. However, that is where this ends. Dems never espouse to have morals, so they are quick to forgive their own. It is only Republicans or conservatives who do espouse morals that are castigated when they make a mistake.

However, I am of the age to remember the Chappaquidik incident and the way Sen. Kennedy left Mary Jo to drown. We will never know the reason, the family money paid off every state official and family members and most are now dead. He can atone all he wants, but unlike what Susan says, he has not spent the rest of his life trying to make up for this mistake. He has gone on to have sexual relations in courthouse back rooms with hookers, and is famous for his threesome sandwich stories. Massachusetts residents look the other way, how else do you explain re-electing Barney Frank.

He has also paid to get his sons and their cousins off for rape and other crimes. He has set the example. No Susan, he needs to make his peace with God and beg forgiveness because we all have to pay the piper. Marc

Comment: #3
Posted by: marc scheel
Thu Jan 22, 2009 7:51 AM

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Just for the record, there is no statute of limitations for murder. Period. End of story.

Comment: #4
Posted by: MaryW
Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:49 AM

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"Oh, yes, he made mistakes — big ones, huge ones, in his personal life. But when does the statute of limitations finally run out? When can I celebrate my first boss in politics without getting mired in a 40-year-old tragedy? He did wrong. He made amends. He spent the rest of his life making amends. It is more than I can say for most of the people I have known in politics."

How nice to be a Kennedy and get away with murder. Amends? To whom? Sorry, but that doesn't cut it in the real world, the world outside the Kennedy bubble. It's outrageous.

Comment: #5
Posted by: MaryW
Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:56 AM

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It may well be hard for Ms. Estrich to imagine the Senate without Ted Kennedy. But the Kopechne's have not imagined life without Mary Jo for the past 40 years. They've lived it. Ted Kennedy "spent the rest of his life making amends" I don't think so. I missed the articles lionizing him for working in leper colonies. I missed the articles canonizing him for working 20 hour days in soup kitchens.

Whether we agree with Mr. Kennedy's politics or not, he has been a Senator for 40 years. And in that time he has done some good things. And having lost too many family members to cancer, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy - and Mr. Kennedy certainly is NOT my worst enemy. My heart goes out to Mr. Kennedy and his family. But to say that the good he has done "makes up for" or outweighs the taking of a single human life (whether through direct action or inaction) devalues that life. And it ultimately devalues us all.

Comment: #6
Posted by: Joseph Krider
Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:47 AM

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