::::::::
With Ted Kennedy gone there are no more giants left in politics. Not one single Democrat comes to mind. Not one single Republican.We are left with second stringers to guide the country through what will be one of its most difficult hours. Don't look for legislators like Lyndon Johnson or Sam Rayburn. Forget about finding a Fulbright or a Taft. They are all a distant memory. Instead we have Reid and Pelosi and Boehner and McConnell. Health care reform is left to the likes of Chuck Grassley, for God's sake. I guess that says it all.
So we go to war with the army we have. If that's the case, then the Democratic Party needs to unite around a single thought: Let's do this for Teddy. Let's put aside the internal divisions. Let's focus on what we all agree on rather than what we will never agree on. Let's pass a health care reform bill. Let's call it the Kennedy Bill.
I know there are some who will say that the best way to honor Teddy is to dig in and fight to the bitter end for the perfect bill that he would have wanted. The problem with that approach is that we don't have Teddy around to guide it through to passage.
Without his skills, without his experience, without his wisdom, without his zeal and his zest, we don't stand a chance of achieving what he could have, certainly not with this crowd in the Senate and House.
We will have to remind ourselves that politics is the art of the possible and that without Teddy a whole lot less is possible. So we must take what we can get. I think Teddy will understand that we did the best we could. He would already be thinking about the next battle. So should we.
This essay first appeared in Every Man A Giant.
