from the S.F. Marina Times
I've written that if you stick around long enough, you'll disappoint everybody. Perhaps I was kidding, perhaps I still believe it. When I saw the news coverage of Senator Ted Kennedy in the days following the disclosure of his illness, a brain tumor that the media insist is fatal and has a hopeless chance of recovery, I began to think that if you stick around long enough, perhaps one will also accrue a remarkable measure of respect.
Ted Kennedy was suddenly deified. It was startling to see the old cats of the United States Senate on C-SPAN actually weeping on the air. They usually make us cry.
It was also touching. There was almost unanimous praise from bipartisan quarters for Kennedy. And why not? The stories began to emerge that Kennedy has done a lot of good things during his 46 years in the Senate. (Where did those 46 years go?) Gavin Newsom says Kennedy has helped San Francisco directly on many occasions, specifically by directing money to social programs here.
Ted Kennedy did not have to stay in public service after Chappaquidick, one of the most famous spots in American history. After he let a girl drown in a car and then walked home all those years ago seemed to have ended the era of the Kennedys.
But it didn't. The myth of Camelot had already been abrogated by the assassination of Ted's two older brothers. But Ted went back to politics, sometimes described as public service. The rest continued to be history, though Ted's history turned out, I'm sure, a disappointment to him. He wanted to be president anyway.
It was not to be.
Ted continued to work what used to be described as the most respected body of government in the world. He used the juice of the Kennedy name to be truly effective. That name of the Kennedys still resonates to people my age. It represented hope when I was kid. If Jack was dead, we thought, then Bobby will get the country jump-started in another direction, specifically to end the Viet Nam War.
It was not to be.
Teddy may have been a disappointment, but he did not stay at home all the time with a constant supply of Scotch. After all these years, this good Catholic boy has done penance in ways, ways that many of us had never really heard about. He's helped poor people, single moms, children, unions, minorities, and people who deserve help from the government. He reminds us that the government is supposed to work for us.
If you are going to pick on a 76-year-old man who is sick, as some right-wing radio creatures have, then you're a damned fool. After Herb Caen announced he has cancer 12 years ago, a TV reporter put a microphone in front of my face and asked me what I thought about Caen's "certain death because he had inoperable cancer."
"Inoperable does not mean hopeless," I said in my deepest and most unqualified conviction.
I'm still trying to stay off the drugs that induce futility. If there was a time to be hopeful, maybe this is it. Ted Kennedy's illness reminds some of us of the days when his brothers inspired hope in lots of hearts. Perhaps it's time that we send a little bit of hope back to him. Even if you think he was a disappointment, I'm sure it would not cost us a thing to forgive.
Bruce Bellingham also writes for the SF Northside. He may or not be a disappointment on occasion, but he still seems to pester us with his commentary anyway.
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