Kennedy
Pro-universal health care to the end U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, who died Tuesday at 77 and was the last of the storied Kennedy brothers, was a legislative giant. He served almost 47 years, making him the third-longest-serving senator, after South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond and West Virginia’s Robert Byrd.
Bad luck, some ill-considered personal judgments and a certain lack of command during his one run for the presidency, in 1980, doomed his ambition to move into the White House. But then, he always seemed more of a man of Capitol Hill than a future president.
He was natural legislator – affable, hard working, passionate and, when needed, very patient. He was much aided by one of the best staffs (drawn to the Kennedy glamour) — both in helping to craft policy and in providing superb constituent services – in the history of the upper chamber. He became ever more important over the years. Some of this was because he had a safe seat ensured by a Massachusetts constituency that revered him and his family, which gave him remarkable seniority, and the power, perks and knowledge of legislative detail that came with it. But also essential were his hard work, unwavering commitment to certain causes – especially those that would help average Americans – and ability to work with Republicans.
Senator Kennedy was an old-fashioned fighting liberal whose efforts, including sometimes stirring oratory, recalled the New Deal. As such, he was a key figure in enacting a range of policy initiatives, mostly in domestic affairs.His best efforts came in promoting healthcare, civil-rights and environmental programs that have dramatically improved the lives of many Americans. More ambiguous, for working-class Americans, has been the impact of his legislation encouraging immigration, which has tended to suppress wages.
But above all, the senator will be remembered for his tireless, heroic efforts to provide Americans with the universal health-care coverage that most of the rest of the developed world has but that America so shamefully lacks. How poignant that he died during another campaign to bring health coverage to all Americans, presided over by Barack Obama, whose ascendancy was in no small part due to the support of Edward Kennedy.
The Providence Journal