Boston Globe: "TED KENNEDY was not a great man"

[steven johnson]

Ted Kennedy was eulogized in the Boston Globe editorial page as "not a great man." They weighed his accomplishments and his failings and declared that, "Human frailties kept Kennedy from being the leader that his most feverish admirers imagined that he would be."

The Great Man theory of history is attributed to Thomas Carlyle, who commented that "The history of the world is but the biography of great men," who stated his belief that heroes shape history through both their personal attributes and divine inspiration.

One of several flaws of the 'Great Man' assesment in history is that history is written by the winners. Ted Kennedy was at his political peak during the political atherosclerosis of the baby boomers when they succumbed to the Republican Revolution of Newt Gingrich. They went from being idealists, to being materialists to being afraid they are going to lose their jobs and their nest eggs. They became the 'Shallowest Generation.'

http://seekingalpha.com/article/103202-the-shallowest-generation

Ted Kennedy never lost the idealism of the 1960s, of looking out for the most vulnerable and fragile of the members of our society.

A man's place in history cannot be judged until history has played out, for at least a generation.

The Boston Globe
Edward Kennedy, 1932-2009
8/27/09

TED KENNEDY was not a great man. The extraordinary events of his life clashed with his human frailties, and the frailties sometimes won. He had real talent as a legislative politician, but for his first few decades seemed destined mainly to be someone’s kid brother.

The programs he championed may not have solved those problems, but they brought tangible assistance to millions whose lives would have been far more difficult if not for Kennedy’s exertions on their behalf.

Now is a time to think, too, of the millions of people with cancer whose treatments were developed with billions of research dollars for which Kennedy was the leading - and most relentless - advocate...Of the people with the AIDS virus for whom Kennedy was instrumental in securing government funding that now covers half of all Americans living with HIV. Of the millions of people with disabilities whose lives were transformed by his advocacy for the Americans with Disabilities Act. And of the tens of millions of Americans whose immigration to the United States from continents other than Europe would not have been possible without the Immigration Act of 1965 that Kennedy sponsored.

Often described as the most thoughtful and empathetic of the Kennedy brothers, and the most loving uncle to his large family, Kennedy bridged the gap between personal kindness and the politics of compassion. When pushing legislation full of complex formulas and percentages, he could always tell exactly how many families would benefit...

Edward Kennedy, 1932-2009

[Parche]

1. he wasnt a great man

He was an awesome, incredible, loving, caring Man........he was the best, and always will be
:cry: :cry: :hi:

[MichiganVote]

2. I doubt that Ted Kennedy cared much whether he was a "great man" or not.

In the final analysis, we all judge ourselves and that's the most important judgment we can make.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. +1

IMHO he would rather be remembered as a man of good works rather than a "great man."

[Xipe Totec]

3. I can't help but notice that the cowards did not put a byline on the editorial

Why is that?

Do the writers at the Boston Globe have no guts?

(edited for gender inclusion)

[Journeyman]

13. That's because it's an Editorial, and by definition is considered the collective opinion. . .

of the newspaper's editorial staff. An Opinion Piece is signed, as it is the personal viewpoint of a specific person or group of people and may in fact run counter to the opinion of the newspaper's editorial staff.

[Xipe Totec]

18. I have seen editorials with bylines

and even if it were the case that the editorial represents the view of the paper as a whole, it is still a cowardly dodge of responsibility.

The whole editorial staff is a bunch of yellow bellied cowards for not standing behind this back stabbing attack on Senator Ted Kennedy.

[BeatleBoot]

4. My Father Loves Meals on Wheels

He's 90 years old.

In that alone, the Kennedy's have touched my family.

Let alone all else.

[Pangolin2]

5. I'll take a Good man over a Great one any day of the week

and twice on Sundays.

:-)

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. That's just the Globe..

..burnishing their 'We're not liberal, no siree, no not us' cred. For this purpose though, they usually rely on the other side of the editorial page, where Jacoby and Vennochi ply their trade.

[stop the bleeding]

8. I don't think Ted really cares about this article's assertions. I think he care(s/d) about

more important aspects of life.

[saltpoint]

9. Given the choice between a good man and a mediocre newspaper,

I'll take the good man any day.

[etherealtruth]

10. Ted Kennedy was a very imperfect man

Greatness does not require perfection. Ted Kennedy was a great human being.

[Old and In the Way]

16. Couldn't agree more.

You'd think the New York Times, Jr. would have this figured out.

[dbonds]

11. Every great man has failings...

They are known as great for the great things they do, not for their human side (which we all have). They are great because normal people don't do the great things. Its the extraordinary things that make legends, not the ordinary.

[autorank]

12. Bad taste by the Globe. What low lifes they are

[C_U_L8R]

14. The Boston Globe was not a great newspaper

years of editorial arrogance and lousy business decisions
and in the end they can't even find a buyer

[Old and In the Way]

15. How far the Boston Globe has fallen.

I read it almost every day in the 70's...it was a great progressive/liberal paper that did great investigative journalism. As Kennedy's reputation and accomplishments increased, the BG has gone in the opposite direction. What a stupid lede.

[sallyseven]

17. It fell apart when the

NY Times took it over. It is not as interesting as it use to be.

[votenovember]

19. Reputations

Unfortunately our reputations precede us.

[steven johnson]

20. History News Network: Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009: The Brother Who Mattered Most

The commentator from the History News Network "one of the greatest legislators in American history." His annointment of Barak Obama as the man to carry the torch of the Kennedy legacy, and his unmistakable imprint on the legislation of the past 45 years have changed the trajectory of American history.

Ted Kennedy would never reach the White House. ...But his failure to get to the presidency opened the way to the true fulfillment of his gifts, which was to become one of the greatest legislators in American history. When their White House years are over, most Presidents set off on the long aftermath of themselves. They give lectures, write books, play golf and make money. Jimmy Carter even won a Nobel Prize. But every one of them would tell you that elder-statesmanship is no substitute for real power.

Because Kennedy never made it to the finish line, he never had to endure a post-presidential twilight. Instead, by the time of his death on Aug. 25 in Hyannis Port at the age of 77, he had 46 working years in Congress, time enough to leave his imprint on everything from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009, a law that expands support for national community-service programs. Over the years, Kennedy was a force behind the Freedom of Information Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act. He helped Soviet dissidents and fought apartheid. Above all, he conducted a four-decade crusade for universal health coverage, a poignant one toward the end as the country watched a struggle with a brain tumor. But along the way, he vastly expanded the network of neighborhood clinics, virtually invented the COBRA system for portable insurance and helped create the laws that provide Medicare prescriptions and family leave.

And for most of that time, he went forward against great odds, the voice of progressivism in a conservative age. When people were getting tired of hearing about racism or the poor or the decay of American cities, he kept talking. When liberalism was flickering, there was Kennedy, holding the torch, insisting that "we can light those beacon fires again." In the last year of his life, with the Inauguration of Barack Obama, he had the satisfaction of seeing a big part of that dream fulfilled. In early 2008, when Obama had just begun to capture the public imagination, Kennedy bucked the party establishment. Just before Super Tuesday, the venerable Senator from Massachusetts enthusiastically endorsed the young Senator from Illinois, helping propel Obama to the Democratic nomination and ultimately the White House.

So does it matter that Kennedy never made it to the presidency? Any number of mere Presidents have been pretty much forgotten. But as the Romans understood, there can be Emperors of no consequence — and Senators whose legacies are carved in stone.

Ted Kennedy, 1932-2009: The Brother Who Mattered Most

[stray cat]

21. He was a good man - I'm not sure who I would ever call a Great Man

I think most of us would do well to strive to be such a good man. One could say he was a saint - defined as a giver of life because he certainly enriched many lives around him both near and far.

[planetc]

22. Except that the Globe doesn't prove its case

In order to convince me, the editorial writer would have had to define what greatness is, at least, and then explain how Kennedy failed that standard. The editorial does neither. It hints that Chappaquiddick had something to do with his "failure" to attain greatness.

I submit that the number of people lining the streets on his funeral journey, the number of people who would have liked to salute him one last time but couldn't get there, the number of people whose lives he improved by stubborn, persistent hard work, and the amount of love he gave his children, grandchildren, and fatherless nieces and nephews easily qualify him for any sane standard of greatness.

Chappaquiddick was over in a few minutes. His life lasted 77 years, and for most of the minutes of that life he covered himself in honor, with grace and humor. A great man and a great human being. Just who the flipping heck is the Globe offering as his competition?

Enough. Let's get back to work at passing 676.

[Raejeanowl]

26. Great Man?

Bread, circuses, free cheese, rallies of every description, public hangings, infamous trials, Lady Godiva, solar eclipses, reality stars, and what have you, have all drawn crowds; the numbers always include the contemptuous, the merely curious, the opportunistic, and people who want to feel part of history being made. Don't extrapolate your inferences through a personal bias. Of course he was loved. Of course he was hated. Of course he was merely "a Kennedy."

The Chappaquiddick accident was over in seconds. The leaving the scene of the accident, the avoidance of reporting the accident despite multiple opportunities, and the attempted cover-up on Kennedy's part in the immediate aftermath lasted hours, the hours that happened to correspond with Kopechne running out of air and suffocating to death in an air pocket in the submerged car. Mary Jo Kopechne's life was over forever.

He who did nothing verifiable to help her or obtain rescue for her, had the audacity to wear a neck brace and bring his wife to her funeral. To my knowledge, he never once made a single public gesture to admit responsibility for what happened in all the 40 ensuing years. Kopechne's parents died in this interim without ever seeing justice served in the senseless and avoidable death of their only child. Perhaps this is part of what the reporter was referring to without recounting the entire tragedy for the sake of the uninformed; it was always said thereafter that hope for the realization of his highest political ambitions in picking up the Kennedy presidential torch, died with her.

The multiple college cheating scandals might have been just a phase of the spoiled, entitled rich youth. I won't go into the boozing and womanizing throughout much of his later life, either, although God knows there was speculation in those behavioral areas that might better explain exactly what did happen on that night. Do you think it is a mere coincidence that his first wife also has had horrendous battles with alcoholism for many years? If one is to argue the fruits of his family influences on the younger generation as a point illustrative of his character (as you do), it would have to be said that there have been as many bad apples produced under his more hands-on auspices as good.

The man is dead. He was a legacy politician and a deeply flawed human being. He may have been wonderful to many. However, his political heritage, his name, the avoidance of a sexual and/or drunk driving scandal, all ultimately meant much more to him than saving that girl's life. I call that a fatal act of moral cowardice.

Yes, he did much good work in the Senate, but truly a great man by anything but a blinkered, naive, revisionist standard, or perhaps a eulogy in search of final redemption?

I actually lived through this part of his history as an adult; did you? I read the autopsy report, watched and read his own ridiculously garbled and shifting accounts of that night, read the police reports, read the non-tabloid accounts of witnesses at the gathering and at the hotel where he stayed; did you?

I suspect Ted Kennedy privately spent most of the rest of his life trying to atone for that death and trying to be the public servant his brothers in their most altruistic moments aspired to be. However, it just does not erase the truth that he was guilty of what-had it not been for his money and connections in that state-could have been successfully prosecuted as manslaughter.

[planetc]

28. I agree with you that it was probably manslaughter

And I agree that if he had been from a poor family, he would have served time for manslaughter, and been paroled, and taken up life again with a criminal record. And I certainly was not attempting to argue that being instrumental in the death of a human being is insignificant. What I was trying to do was contrast the amount of time he spent doing useful things with the amount of time he spent screwing up completely.

I do disagree that the mourners "always include the contemptuous, the merely curious, the opportunistic, and people who want to feel part of history being made." I think that is something you would have to prove, rather than merely assert, and I don't think it's provable one way or the other, even by looking at the faces of those who appeared to say good bye. Will we declare the crowd sufficiently sincere if 60% of the mourners were grieving? 70%? 90%? Just as we can't know the internal life of Ted Kennedy, we can't know the minds and hearts of the mourners. This strikes me as being irrelevant to what the man actually did, as distinguished from the state of his soul. We can't know the state of any soul but our own, but we can discover what other people do, how they spent their time, and what they accomplish.

I also think he may indeed have spent the rest of his adult life trying to atone for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. No matter how privileged his upbringing, he would have had to possess a conscience to realize that atonement was necessary. If he sought forgiveness, his confessor would have given it to him when he offered a sincere confession, and if he sought to atone, I would argue he did a damn good job of it. For any member of the Kennedy family, the possession of great wealth seems not to have induced ignorance of the lives of poorer people. In fact, all three brothers spent a lot of time and political capital trying to make life easier for people born to poverty and discrimination. Two paid a high price for their idealism.

You will notice that I haven't defined greatness either. Like the judge in the obscenity case, I find it difficult to define, but easy to recognize.

[Shireling]

34. Maybe the day will come

when we will have Gandhi as a Senator or even a president, but until then, we will have to realize that this country moves forward by people who sometimes make major mistakes, but do good works anyway. He helped this country evolve toward compassion for those in need, and he helped in the establishment and protection of our civil rights. He did great deeds, and for those deed I am thankful. If we can't correct our past, then we might as well have a fundamentalist God. :patriot:

[peacetalksforall]

23. I think this is a signal. I hope, but I'm cautious. This may be the start of a major smearing

of EMK. I would not put it past Republicans WHO ARE NOT GREAT MEN OR WOMEN.

We have despicable people being directed by a despicable man - Rove, either direct of by training.

We may have to take on another fight here. Tomorrow should provide an indicator.

They say not great and they quote Carlyle?

I say he was more than great in the ways that count - leadership with a heart. And the word that kept coming through in the tributes - PERSISTENCE. Forty five? years in the spotlight. I am proud. He is a hero. Forget the great man crap. FIGHT ON, friends. It's not over with the Republicans.

[Doctor_J]

24. Look how he turned around his life compared to Smirk

After a wild youth he dedicated his last 45 years to working for the underserved. Stupid dedicated his to demonstrating his sociopathy on a world-wide scale.

[MasonJar]

25. I guess it depends on one's definition of "great."

[pundaint]

27. The Globe?

What did they discover about the corrupt Bush Administration? What are the discovering about the corporate take over of America? When the fourth estate starts doing it's job again, I might give a damn if they have an opinion.

[hedgehog]

29. A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house."

[undeterred]

30. The Boston Globe is not a good newspaper.

[Alcibiades]

31. Disgusting

If he's not great, why waste so many column inches on him?
The senior US Senator from your state has just died after 47 years of service, and your lede is "TED KENNEDY was not a great man." Go FUCK YOURSELVES!

[Mystayya]

32. After seeing the responses here I have to wonder if anyone went and read the whole thing

[Uncle Joe]

33. I thought it was kind of a

"I Come to bury Caesar, but not to praise him"

..."For Brutus is an honourable man". editorial

Just substitute Kennedy for Caesar and Republican/Reagan for Brutus.

So I am kicking, but it's too late to recommend.

[Chef Eric]

35. Who gives a damn whether or not Ted Kennedy was a great man?

The important thing is that he was a great senator.