RIP Edward Kennedy

[Jaron]

I am totally going to steal that and post it on facebook.

I'll make several tweets!

[Zanza]

Does anyone want to post the tribute on another forum (I'm thinking Huffington Post). 

They have a "share your memories" piece, but they read the stuff before it is visible, so they'll probably not actually show it.

[Razgovory]

He was a despicable human being and a coward, and I will remember him as such.

And yet a better man then you.

Not at all - I would certainly not have abandoned someone to their death. So no, not a better man than I - probably not even a better man than you.

Situation hasn't come up has it?

[Malthus]

I am totally going to steal that and post it on facebook.

JR can sue me later if he wants.

I'm stealing your idea. 

[Syt]

I guess now is a good time to listen to the Dead Kennedys.

[Savonarola]

Bad news for Michelle:

Is Camelot's future in Obama's hands?


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The young senator inspired a new generation of voters with his message of change and extended America's hand to the global community in an effort to promote a different kind of diplomacy.

One magazine characterized him as having a "quick charm, the patience to listen, a sure social touch, an interest in knowledge and a greed for facts."

A biographer recalled that he "had to touch the secret fears and ambivalent longings of the American heart, divine and speak to the desires of a swiftly changing nation -- his message grounded on his own intuition of some vague and spreading desire for national renewal."

Those words could have been written about Barack Obama's rise to the presidency last year but actually come from coverage about the ascendancy of John F. Kennedy to the White House.

Kennedy's presidency is remembered as "Camelot," for the Broadway show about an idealized King Arthur's Court that opened the month after Kennedy won the presidency in November 1960.

After JFK's assassination in 1963, the Camelot legacy was handed down to younger brother Robert Kennedy, who served as John Kennedy's attorney general and was later elected to the Senate from New York.

Ted Kennedy assumed the mantle after Robert Kennedy was assassinated during his run for the presidency in 1968.

And with the death of the youngest Kennedy brother, the question arises: Has Obama become the Kennedy family's heir apparent?

Many saw Kennedy's endorsement of Obama in the Democratic primaries last year as his handing the keys to Camelot to someone outside the family.

Kennedy's son Patrick, a Democratic congressman from Rhode Island, has kept a relatively low profile in Congress and has faced substance abuse problems that have led to stints in rehab facilities.

JFK's daughter, Caroline, stepped into the political spotlight recently, only later to drop out of the running for Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat.

Robert Kennedy's son Joe was derailed after a messy personal life involving a high-profile annulment, and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, has largely stayed out of the spotlight.

Others, like Robert Kennedy Jr., have careers in public service outside of government.

But Stephen Hess, a former staffer in the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations and an adviser to presidents Ford and Carter, says that right now, there are no other Kennedys to assume Ted Kennedy's place in American politics.

"These families can kind of go into a quiet state and then can flare up again. ... It doesn't look like there is a Kennedy in the immediate future and the nation's political history," he said. "No one will ever count out the Kennedys, and so there will be others."

"We often keep turning to the same names. ... At the moment, it does not appear that there will be a Kennedy in the Congress other than his son," he added.

Hess, who wrote the book "America's Political Dynasties," says that while there are comparisons to be made, Obama is not necessarily the heir apparent.

"He's a voice of his own, had his own agenda. ... He will build his own legacy," he said of the president.

Sen. Kennedy, deemed the Lion of the Senate, was an early, vocal supporter of Obama's primary and general election campaigns, despite having a longtime history with the Clintons.

In late January 2007, Kennedy endorsed Obama and drew parallels to his brother's legendary Camelot and the "new frontier."

"I remember another such time, in the 1960s, when I came to the Senate at the age of 30. We had a new president who inspired the nation, especially the young, to seek a new frontier," Kennedy said. "I know what America can achieve. I've seen it. I've lived it. And with Barack Obama, we can do it again."

Douglas Brinkley, a well-known presidential historian and professor at Rice University, says it's not sure that Obama would have won the Democratic nomination without Kennedy's endorsement and that noteworthy part of his speech.

"At that famous moment when Sen. Kennedy endorsed Obama, it was handing over the Kennedy legacy to him," he said.

The Kennedy dynasty, known for a history of national public service, has spent decades championing the rights of working men and women, with an emphasis on health care, education and community service programs, among other things.

The family, often considered America's royals, has faced tragedy and success.

"The Kennedys have become the charismatic political family of the 20th century," Brinkley added."I think there are the Adamses and the Roosevelts and the Kennedys. They are one of the three great political families in American history."

And part of that greatness, observers say, is the family's dedication to public service and kitchen-table issues that may be at the core of Obama's fit in the Kennedy brand.

In the late 1980s, Obama was a community organizer on Chicago's South Side, advocating programs designed to help the poor and uninsured. That emphasis on community service, analysts say, is the bedrock of the Kennedy legacy.

"I have no doubt that wherever there is a Kennedy, they will be doing public service and they will be, I think, using their name -- the brand -- to help issues and causes that they care about," Hess said.

Obama took that message to heart as he steered through an endless maze of legislation during his first couple of months in the White House.

In late April, Obama signed a measure designed to strengthen national community service efforts by boosting federal funding for thousands of volunteers in fields ranging from clean energy to health care and education.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, recently renamed to honor the Massachusetts senator's sponsorship, will more than triple the number of positions in the AmeriCorps program, from 75,000 to 250,000, by 2017.

But Obama meets the Kennedy standard not only in substance; he also has its style and public appeal.

In 1961, Time magazine named JFK man of the year, after a tough election battle with GOP candidate Richard Nixon.

The article read: "The closeness of his victory did not disturb him; he took over the office with a youth-can-do-anything sort of self-confidence. He learned better; but learn he did. And in so doing," the article says, he made 1961 "the most endlessly interesting and exciting presidential year within recent memory."

Ted Sorensen, a former special counsel and adviser to President Kennedy, says there's no question about the similarities between the two.

"Both of them were compassionate and cared about the people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. ... Both Kennedy and Obama, by spending time abroad during their youth ... gave both of them a very good perspective of Americans' role in the world. ... Both of them were innovators."


And it's with those characteristics that Sorensen says Obama has lined himself up with the ideals of the Kennedy clan and has become a "natural fit."

Both Obama and Kennedy "reached out to young people; tried to get them involved in politics and government after a period of cynical indifference on the part of young people," Sorensen said. "Both Kennedy and Obama ... were idealists ... and paid less attention to the old politics and won by paying attention to the new politics."

It's sad that, with the passing of Ted, Camelot is no longer in the hands of Johnny Walker, but all things must pass.

[Jaron]

Teddy dies and suddenly we're in Negro Camelot? This is worse than that Martin Lawrence movie "Black Knight" or whatever.

[CountDeMoney]

In terms of real impact (as opposed to myth and cultural impact) I think he's by far and away the most consequential of the Kennedy clan.

I dunno, Joe Jr and John John made one hell of an impact when their planes went down.

[Siege]

Why do we have 2 dreads about the same topic?

Delete this shit!

[Caliga]

In terms of real impact (as opposed to myth and cultural impact) I think he's by far and away the most consequential of the Kennedy clan.

While certainly true, that isn't saying a whole lot.

[Siege]

CdM locked my Call To Jaron.

Now Jaron will be lost.

I could have changed his life for the better.
I could have been the instrument of making him a productive member of society.

[Caliga]

CdM locked my Call To Jaron.

Now Jaron will be lost.

I could have changed his life for the better.
I could have been the instrument of making him a productive member of society.

Jaron can be productive, and has been in the past.  I need someone to make my fucking burger. 

[Siege]

CdM locked my Call To Jaron.

Now Jaron will be lost.

I could have changed his life for the better.
I could have been the instrument of making him a productive member of society.

Jaron can be productive, and has been in the past.  I need someone to make my fucking burger. 

Illiterate immigrants can make your burgers.
Jaron can do something more productive than that.
He would make a good M240B gunner.
Or ammo carrier.

[Ed Anger]

CdM locked my Call To Jaron.

Now Jaron will be lost.

I could have changed his life for the better.
I could have been the instrument of making him a productive member of society.

Jaron can be productive, and has been in the past.  I need someone to make my fucking burger. 

And fix the roof, and pick the crops.

[Siege]

Shut up, Tim. You are worst than Jaron.