Like many of you, I watched the last night's memorial for Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy. Like many, I both laughed and cried. It was a remarkable memorial for a remarkable man. Yesterday I wrote that Ted Kennedy was among a very few who transcended the individual to be the historical. In scope and substance, his life and legacy dwarf those of any other public official of my adult lifetime.
But I wonder if history will do honor to his greatness.
More below the fold....
What is Greatness?
Unless you're a lawyer or a historian, you may not have heard of John Marshall. He was our fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and arguably the most important jurist in our entire history. His landmark cases literally transformed the sometimes sketchy ideas expressed our Constitution into working practices. Marbury v. Madison established the doctrine of judicial review. McColloch v. Maryland loosened the Necessary and Proper Clause so that Congress could act effectively. Worcester v. Georgia nearly caused a constitutional crisis when President Andrew Jackson famously said, "Mr. Marshall has written his order, now let him enforce it." Only timely accession by state officials in Georgia averted the frightening prospect of a president refusing to enforce an order of the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Marshall's precedent in that case stands, but President Jackson's portrait appears on the $20 bill. Several years ago, when a cable channel ran a contest to name The Greatest American, John Marshall was not among the 100 nominees.
Neither was Ted Kennedy. You might think that's because Ted Kennedy was still alive, but there were 42 living nominees, including Tom Cruise and Martha Stewart. You might think it's because Ted Kennedy was seen as a polarizing figure, but Rush Limbaugh made the list. Taken as a group, the 100 nominees are a testament to our national fetish with conservatism circa 2005, and our inability to distinguish celebrity from greatness.
The winner was a mediocre actor, two-term California governor, and two-term president: Ronald Reagan. Abraham Lincoln finished second. Franklin Roosevelt, who by any historical measure faced greater difficulties and achieved greater successes than Reagan, finished 10th ... between Oprah Winfrey and Billy Graham.
Senators who were not (yet) presidents were on the list: Hillary Clinton, John Glenn, Robert Kennedy, and Barack Obama. Two led and two still lead distinguished lives of public service. President Obama will doubtless go down in history as our first black president, whatever else he does in office. He may well achieve great things. Yet it's unlikely even he will match the 50-year legacy of Ted Kennedy.
Last night, Vice President Joe Biden said two things about Ted Kennedy that - in his mind and in mine - are the best statements of the greatness whose passing we mourn. Vice President Biden said Teddy was never about himself; if he was talking with you, it was about you. And he said you could not be in Teddy's presence without measuring yourself against him, and that always meant having to be better than you might settled for were he not there.
For all his legislative achievements, for all his family celebrity, for all the famous figures he knew and worked with, perhaps the truest scale of his greatness was how Ted Kennedy inspired greatness in others.
Let his passing inspire that greatness in all of us.
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Happy Saturday!