It's been over two weeks since Ted Kennedy died and many of us, as we listened to President Obama last night, finally felt the emptiness his death left behind. In many ways, the loss of the final Kennedy brother shouldn't impact me too greatly - Teddy was from a clan that, by the time I came of age politically, had lost some of its luster; his one campaign for the Presidency occurred before I was born. His death - and his life - shouldn't have been so momentous in my mind and my life. So why is it?
If you haven't read the letter yet, you should. In it, Kennedy speaks to all of us - not just about health care, not just about politics, but about who we are as Americans, and all we can accomplish. In an age of cynicism and lowest-common-denominator politics, it is a refreshing breath of hope and humanity.
