One More Thing..

to say about Senator Ted Kennedy. I've never been a big fan of Ted Kennedy. His brothers John and Robert, absolutely. Next to them, he always looked like a lightweight in every respect, but the real reason is that the incident at Chappaquiddick left a bad taste that never went away. I concede that part of that may be the way he has been demonized for decades by political opponents. It's been said that Ted Kennedy raised more money that any senate candidate in history, about half for himself and about half for Republicans.

Nevertheless, the coverage of his death last week reinforced something I already knew to an extent, but had minimized. Senator Kennedy was eulogized by political opponents who were his friends. Senators McCain and Hatch spoke glowingly of their late friend in very personal terms. In this age of daily harangues about this or that political figure on some issue, the late senator had made friends across the aisle with people with whom he differed on almost all issues. As far as I could tell, he did it in three ways. First, he befriended everyone in the Senate where he worked for all those years. Story after story was told of personal involvement by Senator Kennedy in the lives of other Senators when they needed him. Too few people in any profession make the effort to be friendly and supportive of those with whom they work. Here lately, it seems that almost no one in public life makes the effort. Second, he worked with many political opponents such as President Bush on NCLB, McCain, and Hatch on the Children's Health Program. In other words, he was willing to compromise to get legislation passed to benefit the country. I wish more leaders were willing to be like Ted Kennedy in that respect. Third, he did the work necessary to get his personal life straightened out, mainly by marrying a good woman to get him on track, not unlike many of the rest of us.

If we can have one legacy from Ted Kennedy, let it be that we can disagree with respect, then befriend and work with those with whom we differ.