Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy is gone. He has joined his brothers -- Joe, John and Bobby -- in the history books. Joseph Kennedy died in a plane crash during World War II in 1944. I was one year old. John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. I was 20 years old in Munich, Germany. Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles while campaigning for president in 1968. I was 25 years old serving my final year in the Air Force in Michigan. Now Edward M. Kennedy is dead. They were all in my lifespan and they all contributed in some way to my life as it is today.
Obviously, I was unaware of Joe Kennedy. John Kennedy was my awakening to politics and the world around me. I read Theodore White's Making of the President 1960. I visited the Berlin Wall where he made his Ich bin ein Berliner speech, I mourned his assassination while living in a foreign country and read Theodore Sorenson's Thousand Days about the all-too-short Kennedy presidency. I saw Bobby as the new JFK. I had such hopes for him as president. He was the last person I truly believed in as a potential president until Obama. I thought Ted Kennedy would have been a great president, but Chappaquiddick destroyed his chances.
But, while Ted Kennedy never made it to the White House, his stature and work in the Senate accomplished as much as if he had been president.
His absence in the Senate has been felt as Congress works on the health reform legislation. He truly knew how to reach across the aisle. He truly knew how to work for what was right for the country and average Americans. He knew how to pull all the forces together to reach the goal.
Now is the time for all Democrats and all Republicans who want to do right for this country to pull together and engage in intelligent, thoughtful, dedicated debate free of animosity, free of screaming, free of name-calling and scare tactics and draft and pass a meaningful health reform bill. Do it for America and do it because it is right.