Edward M. “Teddy” Kennedy – Deceased - The End of An American Political Dynasty

Ted Kennedy with Barack Obama - image NY Magazine

Edward M. Kennedythe senior Senator from Massachusetts, died yesterday evening at the family estate in Hyannis at the age of 77 after a battle with brain cancer. Known as the “Lion of the Senate”, Kennedy was a staunch liberal and standard bearer for the Democrat Party. Kennedy’s passing heralds the end of an era for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as the country. He will be remembered for his soaring rhetoric and defense of his Democrat Party. He was pivotal in the nomination of Barack Obama in 2008, being one of the first to endorse Obama, and using his political clout within the Party to ensure enough Super Delegates would choose the Illinois Senator. Even in the last weeks of his life, Kennedy put his Political Party first – just last week he attempted to use his influence with the Massachusetts legislature to reverse the process of selection of a U.S. Senator should a seat become vacant. Currently, under Massachusetts law, should a seat become vacant, a general election is held, previously, the law stated that the Governor would appoint a Senator. The original law was changed at Kennedy’s behest, due to the anticipated vacancy of John Kerry’s seat in the 2004 presidential election. At the time, Mitt Romney, a Republican, was Governor of the Commonwealth, and Kennedy feared he would appoint a Republican to the U.S. Senate. Kennedy, mindful that the rules would might not favor (or allow Deval Patrick to appoint a successor), the Democrat Party, wanted to reverse the Commonwealth laws.

The Kennedy family ruled Massachusetts and the nation, not always under the rule of the law – the family fortune was amassed by Joe Kennedy, a “bootlegger” (producer and distributor of illegal alcohol during the U.S. Prohibition), and womanizer, who fathered 9 children. His sons, John F. Kennedy, President of the U.S. and Robert Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General, were assassinated in the 1960’s, leaving Ted Kennedy as the eldest to carry on the political torch. He ran for President in 1980, and lost to Jimmy Carter, due to his checkered past, specifically, an incident at Chappaquiddick where Kennedy drove his car over a bridge, left the scene of the accident and his passenger, a young woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, to drown. His actions, for good or for ill, made Ted Kennedy one of the most interesting political figures of our time. There simply are no other Democrat Party Statesmen of his stature and ability left in the Party he loved to the very end of his life.