An All-Time Great in Congress

Scott Lehigh in the Boston Globe:

It was the kind of report this state has been dreading since Saturday. The perpetual motion machine that is Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. That sad news comes just as people were starting to hope that Kennedy, who was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital on Saturday after suffering a seizure, really was going to be OK.

Now, while they hope for the best, Kennedy's friends and fans must begin to imagine a time without him in the US Senate. And that's awfully hard to do. Presidents and governors have come and gone, but Kennedy has been a constant for the Commonwealth. He's been a famous, forceful, resolute voice in national politics for as long as most of us have been politically aware.

"Let's be hopeful and optimistic," Kennedy's old friend Gerry Doherty said yesterday, his voice seeming to quaver as he tried to be hopeful himself. "He has a great amount of physical resilience." He recalled Kennedy's grit after the June 1964 plane crash that broke his back and left him hospitalized for five months. "He is a tough guy," Doherty said.

He's that and more. Stroll out past the Courageous Sailing Center on Pier 4 in Charlestown, and you'll find a large granite boulder dedicated to the senator by Mayor Tom Menino and the citizens of Boston on his 70th birthday. It's an appropriate monument, because for decades, Kennedy has been an absolute rock for this city and this state.

"There's nobody like him," Governor Deval Patrick said on Monday. No, there isn't. Kennedy is a political nonpareil, a legend in his own time who, after four and a half decades in the Senate, still toils like a miner at his trade. He numbers with a small handful of all-time greats in Congress. A list of what he has done for this state would stretch almost to infinity.

In a business where people eye each other suspiciously, Kennedy enjoys a remarkable esteem on both sides of the aisle. He's fierce in a fight, but he has the ability to battle without making it personal. Nor is he a pointless partisan. As was once said of William Gladstone, Kennedy is an old(er) man in a hurry - a hurry to get things done. One reason he's so effective is that he's not an ideologue, but rather a principled pragmatist who understands that accomplishments require compromise.

When it comes to his bedrock values, however, Kennedy won't bend. John Sasso, who got his start in national politics working on Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign, remembers the 1994 Senate campaign, when the senator stood in genuine danger of losing to a hard-charging Mitt Romney. Senior members of Kennedy's campaign team were at his Back Bay condo, going over worrisome polling numbers - numbers that showed people thought Kennedy was out of step with the times. One adviser brought up the charged issue of welfare - only to have Kennedy stop him in mid-sentence.

"He said, 'I am not going to change how I approach poor people for the sake of this campaign. I don't care what happens,' " Sasso recalls. Perhaps less known is Kennedy's human touch. In a business full of the pompous and the self-absorbed, he is a genuine people person with a deep sense of compassion. Longtime Kennedy friend Phil Johnston recalls that when his oldest sister, Kate Coffey, died in 2002, Kennedy called late in the day to express his condolences. "I later found out that his daughter Kara was diagnosed with lung cancer that same day," Johnston says. "But he still found time to call. That's the kind of sensitivity to others that he displays regularly."

One thing I've often heard from readers is how Kennedy solved a problem for them that no one else had even seemed to care about. He has never lost his energy or his empathy. "It's amazing the number of people in the last two days who have asked me to give him their best wishes, and to say that he helped them to do this or that," says Doherty. Millions will be pulling for him and praying for him as he begins his most difficult fight.

The Liberal Lion

Tim Rutten in the LA Times:

Change is in the air this political season -- in the ever-increasing likelihood that an African American will stand as the Democratic nominee for the presidency, and in the near-certainty that Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Senate's liberal lion, soon will exit the institution he has bestrode like a colossus for nearly 50 years.

Just as Barack Obama's primary victories remind us that change often goes hand in hand with progress, so the sudden news of Kennedy's illness is a somber reminder that change also is inevitably loss. Call it tragic wisdom.

Watching the outpouring of emotion from both sides of the aisle Tuesday at the news of Kennedy's condition, it was clear that his senatorial colleagues already are stricken by his impending departure. Partly, of course, that's because Kennedy's tenure in that chamber spans one of the most tumultuous eras in this nation's history. He will exit the Senate as its third-longest-serving member ever. When he first took his seat in 1962, Jim Crow and its de facto shadow were a fact of American life, and women's rights barely extended beyond the franchise. This year, Kennedy enthusiastically endorsed and campaigned for Obama in his contest against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A new world, surely, and one he helped usher in. But also one that seems to be unfolding without three qualities that distinguished Kennedy's long service. The first is empathy. It's shocking just how tenuous belief in the possibility of empathy as a public emotion has become. Kennedy's brother, Bobby, was fond of quoting the ancient Greeks. One of them, Thucydides, once was asked, "When will there be justice in Athens?" He replied, "There will be justice in Athens when those who are not injured are as outraged as those who are."

If Ted Kennedy's 46 years in the Senate have stood for anything, it is for the enduring power of that antique insight. He is a rich, wonderfully connected Boston Irishman, and yet his life's labors have been on behalf of blacks and women and Latinos, for people who sweated for a minimum wage and couldn't pay their sick child's doctor's bill and asked for nothing more than a public school good enough to give their child a fair foothold on the ladder's next rung. Their slights and injuries were his own.

Today, increasing numbers of Americans and their politicians are lost to narcissism and its communal expression -- identity politics. We believe that no one can feel our pain but us, and we care for none outside our tribe. Kennedy's career has been a half-century reproach to that crabbed notion of the American condition. He believed unshakably in solidarity and the common good, and if that now seems quaint, the fault -- and the loss -- is ours and not his.

Child of privilege that he undoubtedly was, Kennedy also stood for a second quality that is fading: the belief that after the accumulation of wealth came an ambition -- indeed, an obligation -- for public service. It's a notion this new Gilded Age finds slightly ridiculous, but not long ago we expected our national leaders to amass their fortunes before taking office and not during or immediately after. There is a meanness of spirit to an age that commoditizes elective office into an economic opportunity.

Finally, one of the reasons Kennedy's Senate comrades will feel his departure so acutely is that he always stood for a civil partisanship. There was no more committed liberal Democrat in that chamber. A struggle with Kennedy was a bare-knuckle fight to the finish, but always according to traditional politics' version of the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. It was never personal, and differences never precluded friendship, which is why the senior Massachusetts senator could work with George Bush or John McCain or Orrin Hatch, and will leave office with a record as one of the most effective lawmakers of all time. Nothing deforms our contemporary politics in quite the way the loss of Kennedy's old-fashioned civility does.

In his recently published memoir, Ted Sorensen, John Kennedy's special counselor, recalled how the president secretly dispatched him, along with Bobby, to assist his youngest sibling in his first run for the Senate. Teddy's opponent was the favorite nephew of Democratic House Speaker John McCormack, whose help JFK desperately needed, so it was necessary to maintain fictional neutrality.

Sorensen thought Teddy a callow candidate. But his brothers' murders and personal tragedy changed that. For a time, it seemed he might become an American Parnell, a leader of vision and skill undone by personal appetites. That too was surmounted. Today, Sorensen judges him thus: "More respected and effective today than some presidents have been, Ted long ago came to terms with the fact that he need not be president to fulfill his portion of the Kennedy legacy. ... I think he will ultimately die in the Senate. More active and at home in that body than either of his brothers, Ted was -- and still is -- the most relaxed campaigner of the three, with an easier style on the public platform, the best politician, better able to work with other senators in both parties.

"Always the liberal lion, he has proven to be a courageous battler on the cutting edge of issues both domestic and foreign, maintaining the liberal tradition of his brothers, even when others in the Democratic Party showed less courage. ... Jack and Bobby would have been proud."

The Aging Senate

In light of the recent health troubles of Senators Kennedy, Specter, and Byrd, the AP provides an interesting perspective on how “their battles with age and illness are the hallmarks of the nation's oldest-ever Senate and reminders of the fragility of power."

"A Strong Guy with a Great Heart"

Senator Robert Byrd: "My thoughts and my humble prayers are with Senator Kennedy, my dear friend, Ted; with his wife Vicki; and with the members of the Kennedy family.

I hope and pray that an all-caring, unlimited God will watch over Ted and keep Ted here for us and for America. Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I love you and I miss you. And Irma, Irma, my darling wife Irma, would say: Thank God for you, Ted. Thank God for you."

The Green Light

A fascinating article in this month’s Vanity Fair explores the following question:

The abuse, rising to the level of torture, of those captured and detained in the war on terror is a defining feature of the presidency of George W. Bush. Its military beginnings, however, lie not in Abu Ghraib, as is commonly thought, or in the “rendition” of prisoners to other countries for questioning, but in the treatment of the very first prisoners at Guantánamo. Starting in late 2002 a detainee bearing the number 063 was tortured over a period of more than seven weeks. In his story lies the answer to a crucial question: How was the decision made to let the U.S. military start using coercive interrogations at Guantánamo?

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft: "Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly."

Senator Ted Kennedy: "Who would have thought that in the United States of America in the 21st century, the top officials of the executive branch would routinely gather in the White House to approve torture? Long after President Bush has left office, our country will continue to pay the price for his administration's renegade repudiation of the rule of law and fundamental human rights."

Dashing for Daylight

In the New York Times, Maureen Dowd takes about the current split in the Democratic party - between those dashing from the darkness and those embracing it. An excerpt:

Hillary Clinton denounced Dick Cheney as Darth Vader, but she did not absorb the ultimate lesson of the destructive vice president: Don’t become so paranoid that you let yourself be overwhelmed by a dark vision…

Darkness seeking darkness. It’s an exhausting specter, and the reason that Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy, Claire McCaskill and so many other Democrats are dashing for daylight and trying to break away from the pathological Clinton path. “I think we should never be derisive about somebody who has the ability to inspire,” Senator McCaskill told David Gregory on MSNBC on Tuesday. “You know, we’ve had some dark days in this democracy over the last seven years, and today the sun is out. It is shining brightly. I watch these kids, these old and young, these black and white, 20,000 of them, pour into our dome in St. Louis Saturday night, and they feel good about being an American right now. And I think that’s something that we have to
capture.”

Hillary’s strategist Mark Penn argued last week that because the voters have “very limited information” about Obama, the Republican attack machine would tear him down and he would lose the support of independents. Then Penn tried to point the way to negative information on Obama, just to show that Obama wouldn’t be able to survive Republicans pointing the way to negative information…

Better the devil you know than the diffident debutante you don’t. Better to go with the Clintons, with all their dysfunction and chaos - the same kind that fueled the Republican hate machine - than to risk the chance that Obama would be mauled like a chew toy in the general election. Better to blow off all the inspiration and the young voters, the independents and the Republicans that Obama is attracting than to take a chance on something as ephemeral as hope. Now that’s Cheney-level paranoia…

The relentless Hillary has been the reticent Obama’s tutor in the Political School for Scandal. He is learning how to take a punch and give one back. When she presents her mythic narrative, the dragon she has slain is the Republican attack machine. Obama told me he doesn’t think about mythic narratives, and Tuesday night in Chicago he was reaching up for “a hymn that will heal this nation and repair the world.”

But, if he wants to be president, he will still have to slay the dragon. And his dragon is the Clinton attack machine, which emerged Tuesday night, not invincible but breathing fire.

An Endorsement's Impact

Since this week's endorsement of Barack Obama by the Kennedys, pundits have been trying to interpret the implications. Here are a couple excerpts from vastly different perspectives:

From the right, David Brooks: The Kennedy endorsements will help among working-class Democrats, Catholics and the millions of Americans who have followed Caroline’s path to maturity. Furthermore, here was Senator Kennedy, the consummate legislative craftsman, vouching for the fact that Obama is ready to be president on Day One. But the event was striking for another reason, having to do with the confluence of themes and generations. The Kennedys and Obama hit the same contrasts again and again in their speeches: the high road versus the low road; inspiration versus calculation; future versus the past; and most of all, service versus selfishness.

“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion,” Senator Kennedy declared. “With Barack Obama, there is a new national leader who has given America a different kind of campaign - a campaign not just about himself, but about all of us,” he said. The Clintons started this fight, and in his grand and graceful way, Kennedy returned the volley with added speed.

From the left, E.J. Dionne: The South Carolina struggle may have shifted the balance of risk in a way that favors Obama. His candidacy has created excitement that Clinton's has not, and that was palpable at yesterday's rally in Washington, where several members of the Kennedy family offered him their political blessing. As the Kennedy endorsements underscored, Obama has the potential of mobilizing new energies among African Americans, and among young and well-educated voters generally. Ted Kennedy's campaigning could also bolster Obama's standing among Latinos, who have favored Clinton.

In the meantime, Democrats worry far more than they did even two weeks ago that Hillary Clinton will have great difficulty in escaping the negative aspects of her husband's legacy. History teaches that writing off any Clinton is a mistake. But South Carolina has placed large obstacles in Hillary Clinton's way. And Barack Obama, stuck just days ago in a nasty tit-for-tat with the Clintons, has been granted a chance to return to the transformational style of campaigning that was always his best path to victory.

The Torch Has Been Passed

Whenever a young, articulate and idealistic politician bursts onto the scene, the Kennedy comparisons (however inappropriate) are inevitable. It stems from a yearning to move beyond the destructive political climate of the present that generates only apathy and disconnect, and to return to a time when we were genuinely inspired to greatness by our elected leadership.

But as we know too well, that leadership is incredibly rare. You may sense it with a gut feeling during a speech or maybe a proud moment during a debate, but there’s much more to it than that. It is a feeling that usually fades as quickly as it comes, but sometimes, those rarest of times, it grows stronger as a message begins to resonate. And as that message resonates with more and more Americans, it becomes a movement that transcends the moment. That is Kennedy-esque. And whether you agree with his policies or not, that is Barack Obama.

The implications of the recent Kennedy endorsement of Obama speak directly to that. In the words of Caroline Kennedy (who felt strongly enough to endorse her first candidate in 30 years), “I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president - not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.” In the words of Ted Kennedy, "I've seen it. I've lived it. And with Barack Obama, we can do it again."

But the implications of the Kennedy endorsement also speak directly to Bill and Hillary Clinton. When Hillary left South Carolina to campaign in Super Tuesday states, the former president was left behind to do his dirty work. He didn’t disappoint. With one horde of media trailing behind Hillary and one behind the former president, it was two against one. The attention grew as the attacks became more outlandish and more personal. When asked if it was inappropriate, the former president turned his guns on the media for taking sides and then inappropriately (and remarkably) refused to answer the question and chose to downplay the appeal of Obama by referring to Jesse Jackson’s success over 20 years ago. It was a blatant inference that race alone was what carried Obama to victory in South Carolina. To once again pull the race card was unbecoming of any campaign surrogate, and it was certainly beneath the dignity of a former President.

Drawn from his neutral seat on the sidelines, Ted Kennedy reportedly grew increasingly angry by the tone of the Clinton campaign and was instrumental in bringing about the truce between the two candidates around the time of the Nevada debate. The remarks of President Clinton in South Carolina likely brought him off the sidelines.

In giving his endorsement, Kennedy – perhaps the only Democrat with the gravitas to go toe to toe with the former President - came out swinging. "From the beginning, (Obama) opposed the war in Iraq. And let no one deny that truth." To counter Hillary, Kennedy (one of the longest-serving Members in the history of the Senate) claimed that Obama would be ready for the Presidency on “day one.” He went on to say that "what counts in our leadership is not the length of years in Washington, but the reach of our vision, the strength of our beliefs, and that rare quality of mind and spirit that can call forth the best in our country and the best in our world."

In contrast to the Clintons, he claimed that Obama “will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past. He is a leader who sees the world clearly without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in without demonizing those who hold a different view.”

A growing number of Americans, particularly Democrats, are coming to realize that the Clintons would govern as they campaign – you’re either with them or you’re against them. We long to move beyond the divisiveness that has paralyzed our government and that has filtered down to our communities, but it's becoming clear that we would see no reprieve as the nation transitioned from a Bush presidency to another Clinton presidency.

Rumors of the Clinton campaign reigning in on the former president are inevitable but will not likely lead to much. It raises the question – if Bill Clinton can’t be kept under wraps during the campaign, what role will he - an unelected and unaccountable figure – play if he moves back into the White House? Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Hillary will want it both ways – to portray herself as a strong woman running on her own while essentially cowering behind a husband who continues to wage attacks, spout nonsense, and monopolize the headlines.

With a keen perspective of history, Ted Kennedy knows that America is ready to move on: “There was another time, when another young candidate was running for president and challenging America to cross a new frontier. He faced criticism from the preceding Democratic president, who was widely respected in the party. And John Kennedy replied: ‘The world is changing. The old ways will not do. It is time for a new generation of leadership.’ So it is, with Barack Obama.”

The Anniversary of NCLB

Reflecting on the sixth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, it's unfortunate that so many are using the initiative as a political punching bag despite the merit of its overall approach and many of its provisions, and despite the progress (albeit modest) we've seen since its implementation. Instead of offering meaningful ways to address the legislation's current shortcomings, more and more politicians are going for the easy applause line by saying we should scrap the entire bill. Republicans hate it because the accountability measures have teeth and are administered at the Federal level, and Democrats hate it because it's a highly-touted Bush domestic achievement and because it's been consistently underfunded (thereby undermining many of its intentions).

The enactment of NCLB is itself a great example of the things we can accomplish when legislators place results over politics. During reauthorization of the bill, these same legislators need to seize upon the opportunity to seriously and honestly assess both the successes and the lessons learned of the last six years. It will also be important for all the stakeholders (particularly the teachers' unions) to be honest brokers and to put the best interests of students ahead of everything else. It is an opportunity that we cannot bypass and it is one that shouldn't be punted down the road. Our children deserve more than that.

Ted Kennedy, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and an original author of the bill, reflects on the 6th anniversary of NCLB.