Teddy, We Heartily Knew Ye

What can one say about the end of Camelot as we wanted to know it.? It was a silly place, after all. American Royalty is an oxymoron. Yet JFK enchanted us. Bobby was a chance, a second chance for a do-over, a return to the mythical place that would fulfill our youthful idealism. Teddy was always the last chance, the better-than-no-Kennedy-at-all Kennedy. With Bobby’s murder, life seemed snuffed out of politics. Although the weight of those two murders must have weighed heavily on the youngest brother, no excuses were ever asked for Teddy’s character-malfunction in the face of his drunken-driving homicide at Chappaquiddick. He spent the rest of his life in a state of active atonement. In America we love the come-back, we welcome the second-chance by the “fallen.” The stage is always set and the curtains are always ready to open for the sinners’ second act. (except for Michael Vick of course…animals rank higher than human life in this pet-obsessed nation) Teddy worked hard for redemption. His list of legislative achievements and social interactions and kindnesses are as real as they are now legendary. I’ll miss Ted Kennedy’s big smiling face, his goofy Boston accent, his beefy, corpulent, over-sized presence in the body politic of America. We all knew you, Teddy. Your good, your bad…we heartily knew ye. And America, whether it realizes it or not, will miss you.