RIP: Edward M. Kennedy, 1932-2009

Coverage of Senator Ted Kennedy’s passing will dominate news for the remainder of the week, climaxing with his funeral Saturday at Boston Church, and culminating in a tsunami-like outpouring of anecdotes and memories, shared by the usual cast of political insiders on the Sunday morning shows. The combined coverage should receive ratings that would make it the largest Irish wake in history. By Monday morning, the event will fade into the white noise of the healthcare battle, with the Kennedy name commandeered for use by Democrats to engender support and taunt their opposition.

For the present, while the Kennedy clan and the late senator’s friends and colleagues grieve their loss, jackals pace outside of the metaphorical chapel of their mourning, grinning with grim satisfaction and interpreting his death in terms of “justice.” The tone of comments mimics the hate-wishing normally reserved in our society for the vile and sociopathic. Perhaps cheering the death of a political opponent is as American as apple pie, but it is ugly.

The malice projected by some voices on the right isn’t distasteful because the “yuck factor” might be smeared across an entire political movement, although that has already begun. Their viciousness and lack of grace demonstrates a shallowness on the part of some that transcends politics. They ignore the positive aspects of Kennedy’s 39 years of service to his country and that he—like his brothers—held dear the notion that America should be a place where man’s humanity toward his fellow man was a paramount value. Whatever misguided directions his beliefs took him in, in terms of legislative positions, his firm adherence to that core value is one that should be remembered, not buried under a torrent of attacks.

Ted Kennedy’s commitment to the American ideal was greater than most of us realize. His bond with brothers Jack and Bobby was genuine and strong, and no fraternal trio of recent memory has equaled their drive, charm, and courage. When each was gunned down, Teddy had ample reason to walk away from a system that had brutally taken the lives of his family. Instead of succumbing to anger and bitterness, he charged onward. With redoubled vigor he carried the torches of Bobby and Jack’s visions for a better America.

There is no doubt that Kennedy was also a flawed man, as are we all. Many are quick to convict him of high crimes, delivering verdicts of guilt built on hasty conclusions and an encyclopedia of urban myth. In the world of Ted Kennedy disparagers, all roads begin and end in Chappaquiddick, a “mystery” that would have ceased to titillate decades ago if taking a dark interest in the lives of the Kennedy family was not the great American pastime.

Kennedy would be “punished far beyond anything this court can impose,” Judge Boyle said in 1969, in his sentencing of the Massachusetts senator, found guilty of fleeing the scene in Chappaquiddick, and abandoning Mary Jo Kopechne to her fate. If Boyle was alluding to Kennedy’s own guilt over his failure to save her, the humility and contrition of Kennedy in the darkest moments was genuine.

In his televised address to the people of Massachusetts that followed the Chappaquiddick incident, Kennedy appeared anguished over what he had not done on that July night in ’69, not by something he had done, as some have suggested. Although the first landing by men on the moon two days after the accident had pushed the story below the fold, Kennedy insisted on using his televised address after the Chappaquiddick incident to ask Massachusetts voters to tell him whether he should stay in office. If they had asked him to resign (they did not), I believe he would have had been humble enough to comply with their wishes. In contrast, even staunch conservatives should be able to look at South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s self-indulgent response to his scandal and gain some perspective on Kennedy’s personal integrity in extreme circumstances. Most of us would be hard-pressed to emulate Kennedy’s behavior.

The temptation will fester among even reasonable Republicans to view his absence as a bittersweet gift. There is a large dose of envy in the GOP, a party that has prayed for a leader to emerge who is willing to take risks to promote the party’s goals with the same passion and determination that Kennedy carried the ball for the Democrats.

But as the passionate political warrior falls, there is reason to wondier if another Democrat is carrying the torch of American republican values in the way Kennedy did. The voices of his party are singing a hastily composed eulogy and campaign speech mashup, cut-and-pasted from the over-the-top tributes to Sen. Paul Wellstone and internal talking points memos. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issued statements that were canned, and read like mini-stump speeches for the current agenda. Even the President’s remarks (Barack Obama is the “fourth Kennedy brother,” as MSNBC host Chris Matthews suggests) leaned toward reminding Americans that Obama is a very wise and benevolent leader because of Senator Kennedy’s mentorship.

Then there are the rest of us, the people who silently consider Kennedy’s legacy. Sitting in offices or waiting in line for our morning coffee, while callous gallows humor and repackaged faux tributes are exchanged freely, we conjure an image of the three Kennedy sons. We think about the vibrant ideals they fought for, and we distinguish between political and existential enemies. We wish there more like Jack, Bobby, and Teddy, pray that they might be Republican, and quietly say a prayer for their souls and the well-being of the ones they left behind.

God speed, Senator.

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