Ted Kennedy is gone

by: Rosi Efthim

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 03:57:08 AM EDT

The Lion of the Senate is dead. He died tonight, at the fabled Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, MA, the little group of grey shingled buildings that fueled some of the dreams, and some of the frustrations, of more than one generation of his countrymen. He was a complicated soul, responsible for great tragedy, yet hero to so many, the beneficiary of tremendous privilege but workaday, approachable and productive in his service to his country.

There is too much irony wrapped up in this. Health care access was "the cause of his life," he said. And, having just returned from a marathon public event where I saw an earnest Member of Congress abused for nearly 5 hours by an unruly mob, it all feels endangered to me. Fragile.

Simply said, Frank Pallone could have used Ted Kennedy standing beside him tonight. He'd been laying the groundwork for this, for decades. And if it's to be done now, it will be done without its prime mover.

Let's get it done.