Senator Edward Kennedy 1932-2009

“For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on. The cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

Edward Kennedy passed away this morning after a yearlong battle with cancer. He was 77. One of the most powerful and effective senators in American history and one of three brothers whose political triumphs and personal tragedies captivated the nation for decades, Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, was the last survivor of a privileged and charismatic family that dominated American politics and attracted worldwide attention on a nearly aristocratic level.

He was more than the last surviving member of the Kennedy Clan, though. He was a torch bearer. He was a patriarch of promise – promise of a dream that went unfulfilled by his older brothers, each of whom was unable to scale the political gauntlet set before them due to tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. John and Robert Kennedy, each assassinated, vaulted into legend; Ted was relegated to settle for a career in the annals of U.S. politics based on senatorial accomplishment and steadfast resolve.

Says the Washington Post, “Kennedy served in the Senate through five of the most dramatic decades of the nation’s history. He became a lawmaker whose legislative accomplishments, political authority and gift for friendship across the political spectrum invited favorable comparisons to Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and a handful of other leviathans of the country’s most elite political body.”

He wasn’t, unlike his brothers, presidential. For years, many Democrats considered Kennedy’s nomination an inevitability. In 1968, a “Draft Ted” campaign emerged only a few months after Robert Kennedy’s death, but never took hold. A scandal involving a young woman’s death from Kennedy’s having driven his car off a bridge dashed those hopes altogether.

Instead, he became a major presence in the Senate. He was also, to Republicans’ occasional chagrin and Democrats’ occasional dismay, an unfettered (and stubborn) force from the left. But he was also the king of compromise, which garnered a great deal of respect from either side of the aisle. Just ask George W. Bush, John McCain and Orrin Hatch.

Diagnosed with a brain tumor in May 2008, he remained a strong advocate for Medicare. His performance in the Senate, even from his hospital room, earned praise and respect across the board.

Ted Kennedy was speaking about hope long before it became a Pepsi Cola symbol of pop-cultural popularity. “This is what we do. We scale the heights; we reach the moon.”

As the last surviving member of the court of Camelot, his passing represents the closing of not only a chapter, but an entire volume in political history.

As the song from which the Kennedy mystique was thematically correlated goes, “Don’t let it be forgot that once there was a spot for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot.”