Profiles in Courage
Aug. 26th, 2008 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aYesterday night, Ted Kennedy spoke at the Democratic Convention.
That in itself is amazing. This is a man who has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, who is undergoing chemotherapy, and whose doctor told him not to attend because he was likely to get sick due to his compromised immune system. He came anyway.
His speech was just eight minutes long, but it was moving. Teddy spoke of passing on the torch to the next generation of politicians, saying that "The world begins anew." And it does. It begins anew every day with every birth bringing new life into the world, with every death extinguishing the same.
I am amazed, impressed, and humbled by this man's ability to look beyond his own death, by his desire to serve his country one last time by electing a man that he believes in, a man who might bring this country back from the path of destruction that it has been set upon for the last eight years. Teddy promised to be at Obama's inauguration in January, but that may well be a promise that he can't keep.
That he would place his health--and ultimately the short time he has left--in danger to try and elect a man to a presidency that he will never see shows the best in what a politician can be.
That in itself is amazing. This is a man who has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, who is undergoing chemotherapy, and whose doctor told him not to attend because he was likely to get sick due to his compromised immune system. He came anyway.
His speech was just eight minutes long, but it was moving. Teddy spoke of passing on the torch to the next generation of politicians, saying that "The world begins anew." And it does. It begins anew every day with every birth bringing new life into the world, with every death extinguishing the same.
I am amazed, impressed, and humbled by this man's ability to look beyond his own death, by his desire to serve his country one last time by electing a man that he believes in, a man who might bring this country back from the path of destruction that it has been set upon for the last eight years. Teddy promised to be at Obama's inauguration in January, but that may well be a promise that he can't keep.
That he would place his health--and ultimately the short time he has left--in danger to try and elect a man to a presidency that he will never see shows the best in what a politician can be.
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Rilly?
Date: 2008-08-26 10:53 pm (UTC)Isn't he the party hack we're all supposed to be embarassed by?
While I may begrudgingly give him some praise for coming out to support Obama, does that really make up for Chappaquiddick?
Re: Rilly?
Date: 2008-08-26 11:21 pm (UTC)I think your view of Teddy is old and out-of-date.
Given that Kennedy came out for Obama in January, he may very well be the rason that Obama won the nomination.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-27 03:10 am (UTC)Chappaquiddick was bad, but this was in a day and age when the risks of drunk driving were not as respected. More to the point most of the right wing people I've known who use this as a weapon to attack, have often had drunk driving run-ins of their own, and most of the time don't know much about the guy. If you really want to talk about poor behavior on the part of the elected see: http://www.republicanoffenders.com/index.html
There is a reason he always gets support here in MA, even from the right. That's because he brings home the bacon, and we in MA know it. Off and on over the years Higher education has been this states leading industry. Kennedy is one of the big reasons this country has the student loan program it does. So if you ever got one of those you owe the man a pat on the back. And the student loan program is the only loan program the US gov has always made a profit on. I met the him when I was in college at UMass in the late '70ies and volunteered as a student lobbyist.
Ted Kennedy also played a big part in the weapons development and funding policies in Washington. In the heat of the cold war there was a reason we were investing in smarter weapons rather than larger numbers as the Russians did. Ted was at the front of that push, not only because it echoed JFK's commitment to the space program, but also because it was a way for the higher education and high tech industries to support national defense.
These are just two of the big contributions I know he's been in the lead on. With just a little effort, no doubt, I could give a huge list. Yeh, folks who don't know his contributions tend to parrot the right wing on this, but the main reason the right wing alway holds him up for attack is because he's such a strong Democrat.