Sen. Edward Kennedy passed away tonight. America has lost one of its greatest members of its democratic experiment, one of the greatest senators ever to serve in that chamber.Sen. Kennedy chaired the important Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, which is one of the two important Senate committees considering health care reform. In July, while he was absent from the Senate, he released a statement about the progress of what he called “the cause of my life,” and the committee vote on its reform bill. While Kennedy was a partisan, he was also of a different era – an institution in his own right. His comments in that statement are testament to that, particularly in contrast to the behavior at “town halls” in America.
I could not be prouder of our committee. We have done the hard work that the American people sent us here to do. We have considered hundreds of proposals. Where we have been able to reach principled compromise, we have done so. Where we have not been able to resolve our differences, we have treated those with whom we disagree with respect and patience.
That principled commitment to the “cause” matched with a “respect and patience” for his colleagues is in increasingly short supply these days in American politics.Kennedy was elected in 1962 and served through a tumultuous 47 years at the center of American politics. While he was attacked by the right as the image of liberalism, he was nevertheless always open to working with conservatives on issues he held dear. Among the most prominent examples in recent history is the “No Child Left Behind” Act, where Kennedy’s support was crucial to the bill’s passage.In 2000, I spent 3 weeks staffing then-Senate candidate Maria Cantwell on a bus tour of Washington State. Just her, me, another fellow and our driver. And A LOT of time on the bus.During that time, I read former NY Times reporter Adam Clymer’s book on Kennedy. Cantwell and I spent at one point about an hour discussing Kennedy, his role in American history, and his impact on the country. She didn’t vocalize her own self-reflections or comparisons of what kind of senator she might be next to him. But you could see the wheels turning.The moral of that story is only this: Kennedy’s impact will long out live him — in terms of policy, but also in terms of the lasting lessons and impressions left by him on members of the Senate, on our political class, and on Americans everywhere committed to public service.
