I imagine it’s unusual to see “Why I will miss Ted Kennedy” in the same blog as “Why I will miss Robert McNamara” and “The specter of protectionism.”  I’m from Massachusetts.

Senator Kennedy’s life of service is something to be admired.  His personal challenges, and the bad decisions he made, are best seen in the light of his ability to persevere.  A shallow review of his life could simply chronicle those mistakes, but it would miss the man, and it would miss the real power of Ted Kennedy’s story.

Unlike his brothers, who most people under 40 know best by their initials and the monuments built to their life, Edward was human.  He lived long enough that we saw through the facade built by his parents and carefully nurtured.  He lived long enough that we saw his deep, abiding passion for humanity and a ferocious desire to help those who are less fortunate, or who are set upon by others.

His work in health care, his work in human rights, his work in civil rights, his work as a consummate dealmaker in a building where fewer and fewer deals are stuck, won’t be easily replaced.  The people who built Ted Kennedy as a cardboard cut-out of liberalism eventually learned their characterization was flawed, and many found themselves allied with the senior senator from Massachusetts.

It’s as easy to be liberal as it is to be conservative.  You shun all other points of view and regard those who disagree with you as deeply flawed, or less than human.  We see this behavior in polemics from both sides.  What we see only rarely is someone with the deep passion of an extreme position with the capacity to listen, to adapt to new information and to find common ground in a discussion, in a debate and in legislation.

I will miss Ted Kennedy because he reminds me of my father.  His voice, his jaw, his accent.  I will miss Ted Kennedy because our political world got a little more partisan today.  I will miss Ted Kennedy because his model of public service becomes like that of his brothers - the stuff of monuments and speeches, and not the stuff of flesh and blood.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.