Beacon Street Journal

Among friend and ideological foe alike, who cannot but admire the courage Ted Kennedy exhibited this past year as he tirelessly soldiered on, while battling brain cancer? Throughout it all, he asked for no pity and demonstrated a remarkable assiduity of purpose and resolve as he attempted to continue on with his duties as a major player in the Democratic Party. In many ways, his last year of life was his most inspirational.

Ted Kennedy was a man blessed with great political talent yet cursed by his appetites. The recklessness and astounding poor judgment he exhibited in the Chappaquiddick incident that resulted in the death of a young Mary Jo Kopechne, left an indelible stain on his career and limited his future political aspirations. In terms of his political destiny, as one with acute political instincts, he must have known that after that tragic episode, the route to the presidency for him would be forever closed.

Yet as the disastrous Roger Mudd interview made abundantly clear, outside of pressure from Democratic Party operatives, he had no compelling reason for running for the presidency.

Instead, he chose to devote himself to the Senate where he was one of its longest serving members in recent memory. He applied himself to his chosen political avenue with vigor, dedication and determination becoming in the eyes of both Democrats and Republicans alike, one of the most accomplished and well respected members of that body. In this regard, he eclipsed both of his older brothers with the sheer longevity of his service.

Some of his accomplishments all can applaud. Those who enjoy the security and flexibility of maintaining their health insurance under the provisions of COBRA, when changing jobs have Senator Kennedy to thank for his pivotal role in enacting this indispensable piece of legislation.

Yet he was an unrepentant liberal and at times, a ruthless partisan. The decline in civility that still plagues our political discourse to this day can be traced back to Kennedy’s unprecedented, scurrilous and outright defamatory attack on Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.

In terms of his political effectiveness, his career seemed to mirror the rise and decline of American liberalism of which he was its most prominent spokesman. Kennedy is most revered for his untiring role as an outspoken champion of the downtrodden and forgotten members of society. Yet, Kennedy was incapable of appreciating the limits of his extreme liberalism.

He paid no heed to the principle of unintended consequences nor to the adverse ramifications the Great Society programs visited upon its supposed beneficiaries. He staunchly and reflexively opposed any welfare reform and in the end, though his unabashed liberalism always found a receptive audience in his native Massachussetts, he, like the political doctrine he preached, became a national political anachronism.

When he made his “The Dream shall never die” speech in 1980, the nation had already rejected liberalism and he was left to carry on the fight, to an unreceptive public. As the recent opposition to Obamacare makes clear, the country clearly has no appetite for a return to big government liberalism.

It remains unclear whether there will be anyone to pick up Kennedy’s mantle as the liberal lion of the party. No one has the charisma, the unique charm and least of all, the legacy of the Kennedy dynasty to fill the void created by his passing. For, with his death, the myth of Camelot is now extinguished forever.