Eugene Robinson obviously was donning rose-colored glasses when he wrote the column that appears in today's Washington Post, "A Prince's Fate."
He writes:
That the nation is so moved by the passing of Edward Moore Kennedy testifies to his skill, grace and determination at playing a role that must have been infinitely more difficult than it sounds: a prince fated never to be king.
Ted Kennedy was the youngest of nine children in a family whose ruthless patriarch was intent on building an American dynasty. The old man, business titan Joseph Kennedy, was a king. Ted's older brother Jack, the handsome young president, was a king. The other two brothers, Joe and Robert, were slated for the throne but died too soon. Ted made a run for president, but with the air of someone who didn't really believe he was meant to win. He was the baby brother, the eternal prince.
Princes often have lives that are difficult, even within a context of wealth and privilege. They have to find ways to keep from being eaten alive by ambition that can never be requited. Some become sage counselors in the affairs of state; some become wastrels who lose themselves in women and booze; some fade away and become hobbyists who go off and pilot sailboats or collect butterflies or something. It's fair to say that at various points in his life, Ted Kennedy tried all of these identities.
The hardest task for an eternal prince is to construct an original identity of which he can be proud -- an identity that allows him to live a life of purpose, meaning and impact. Ted Kennedy accomplished this feat by becoming the greatest senator of our age and serving as the liberal conscience of the nation.
...The cause of his life, however, became health care -- changing the unacknowledged system of rationing under which we apportion care according to an individual's ability to pay. There are those who believe that if Kennedy had not been ailing, President Obama's attempt at health-care reform might be further along. I doubt that, given the Republican Party's strategy of intransigence and fear-mongering.
But we sorely miss Kennedy's moral clarity. He believed our nation has the responsibility to ensure that every American has the right to affordable health care. Perhaps his life as an eternal prince taught him that happiness and salvation lie in sacrificing self-interest for the greater good.
Where to begin....
Ted Kennedy did not play the role of prince to "near-perfection."
No. No, that's just not true.
We cannot change the past. We cannot rewrite history. I don't need to get into the details during this time of mourning, out of respect for the Senator and his family, but we all know that this prince had extremely serious lapses in terms of judgment and character, both personally and professionally.
I don't think Kennedy should be considered the "greatest senator of our age."
For all his accomplishments and hard work and devotion, I don't think Kennedy should be given that title, for the reasons I alluded to above.
Furthermore, I think it's terribly crass of Robinson and other liberals to exploit Kennedy's death in the health care debate. I don't think it's right to reduce him to a political trump card. It's unseemly.
And regarding "moral clarity," Kennedy's life story holds many struggles with morality.
All human beings are faced with issues of morality in their lives.
Let's not pretend that Prince Ted, Robinson's term, dealt with those issues in an ultimately moral fashion and with a commendable clarity.
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