The Last Knight of Camelot

Friday's editorial noted the passing of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, and the political era he represented.

A noted Republican senator remarked not long ago that were his colleague, Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, able to be in Washington, the debate over health care reform would be going differently.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah clearly meant that the health care debate, at least in the Senate, would be closer to some sort of agreement. Kennedy had that kind of influence and respect on both sides of the aisle.

The senator died Tuesday after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. He was 77.

A measure of his stature came at President Obama's inauguration luncheon, when Sen. Kennedy fainted and was taken from the U.S. Capitol by ambulance. Republican senators spoke of their long friendship with Kennedy and their respect for him. He was a "lion of the Senate."

President Obama, vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, noted his former Senate colleague played a role in every major civil rights and health care measure over the past 45 years. Hatch mentioned that just last year, the Serve America Act, named for Kennedy by Hatch, renews the effort for volunteer service.

His roles in these major public issues top the short list of why Kennedy was important. He authored or co-wrote 2,500 pieces of legislation and 300 became law.

His opponents will no doubt focus on the death 40 years ago of a young Senate worker who lost her life in an auto Kennedy drove off a bridge, but her death should not overshadow his life of public service. It is but one of the tragedies in Kennedy's life.

His oldest brother, Joseph Jr., was killed in World War II. Another brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963 after a short presidency known as "Camelot." A third brother, Robert, was killed in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, died only recently.

Kennedy was born into great wealth and power. Whatever one may think of the Kennedys, whatever their personal foibles, they worked tirelessly for better lives for all Americans, especially those who have had no or few advantages.

We've come a long way since 1960, when John F. Kennedy was elected. Some Republicans claimed that electing a Roman Catholic president meant the pope would pull the strings on his puppet president. Presidential politics has always had its zany aspects. Washington, however, has not at all times been so unrelentingly partisan as in recent decades.

We refer to a time when President Johnson (who succeeded JFK) and the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, "jawboned" one another and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Kennedy came up in the Senate when partisanship was frequently put aside - and his example is perhaps one reason Obama is attempting to govern more from the center than the far left or far right are willing to accept.

His human weaknesses aside, Kennedy was a major force in the Senate and in U.S. public policy and political life. Less partisanship and hateful political talk would be a fine start for a return to the public service Kennedy represented.

The senator died Tuesday after a 15-month battle with brain cancer. He was 77.

A measure of his stature came at President Obama's inauguration luncheon, when Sen. Kennedy fainted and was taken from the U.S. Capitol by ambulance. Republican senators spoke of their long friendship with Kennedy and their respect for him. He was a "lion of the Senate."

President Obama, vacationing on Martha's Vineyard, noted his former Senate colleague played a role in every major civil rights and health care measure over the past 45 years. Hatch mentioned that just last year, the Serve America Act, named for Kennedy by Hatch, renews the effort for volunteer service.

His roles in these major public issues top the short list of why Kennedy was important. He authored or co-wrote 2,500 pieces of legislation and 300 became law.

His opponents will no doubt focus on the death 40 years ago of a young Senate worker who lost her life in an auto Kennedy drove off a bridge, but her death should not overshadow his life of public service. It is but one of the tragedies in Kennedy's life.

His oldest brother, Joseph Jr., was killed in World War II. Another brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963 after a short presidency known as "Camelot." A third brother, Robert, was killed in 1968 while campaigning for the Democratic nomination. Kennedy's sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who founded the Special Olympics, died only recently.

Kennedy was born into great wealth and power. Whatever one may think of the Kennedys, whatever their personal foibles, they worked tirelessly for better lives for all Americans, especially those who have had no or few advantages.

We've come a long way since 1960, when John F. Kennedy was elected. Some Republicans claimed that electing a Roman Catholic president meant the pope would pull the strings on his puppet president. Presidential politics has always had its zany aspects. Washington, however, has not at all times been so unrelentingly partisan as in recent decades.

We refer to a time when President Johnson (who succeeded JFK) and the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, "jawboned" one another and helped pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Kennedy came up in the Senate when partisanship was frequently put aside - and his example is perhaps one reason Obama is attempting to govern more from the center than the far left or far right are willing to accept.

His human weaknesses aside, Kennedy was a major force in the Senate and in U.S. public policy and political life. Less partisanship and hateful political talk would be a fine start for a return to the public service Kennedy represented.