From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst
7 July
Ted Kennedy started out as a spoiled playboy - a chip off
the old block, he was a womanizer, he was rich and, finally, [unlike his more
famous brothers] a drunkard. As the youngest of the Kennedy clan he was
probably coddled by his mother; certainly not much was expected of him. His
oldest brother Joe was the one being groomed to become President, and when he
died in 1944 it was the second oldest, Jack, who was then groomed to become
President; little Teddy wasn't even an afterthought, and Teddy delivered
accordingly.
He did the pampered-rich-kid-in-college thing and cheated
probably more than once on his bumpy way to a Harvard degree. Then at age 30 he
got his big brother’s senate seat because he was told to.
Chappaquiddick was the great symbol of his
where’s-the-next-party? approach to life in general. Chappaquiddick and the
death of Mary Jo Kopeckne may also have sparked a nascent sense of responsibilty,
but even then it only flickered; three years later he ran for the presidency
because, would you believe, he was told to.
But it seems he did have one saving characteristic: unlike
his three brothers he happened to live for a long time. And during the course
of those years he discovered he really liked being in the Senate. He also
learned that things could get done by forming long-term relationships, if you
were patient, if you approached problems incrementally. As he aged he made
haste slowly, something we Americans aren’t very good at. He was even praised
in the end because he achieved surprisingly dazzling success through dogged
persistence.
Given his silver-spoon beginnings, who would have thought
such fulsome praise possible?
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