Comments (0)Remembering Ted Kennedy
August 28, 2009Phil Jacobs
Executive Editor
Will it be Chappaquiddick?
Will it be his reputation as a drinker?
Or will our memories be more impacted by the liberal influence he had on the nation, policies that sought to protect the downtrodden and give civil rights and justice and an equal playing field for all Americans of all backgrounds. He was the standardbearer, the power broker, in this regard. His voice was sometimes the loudest, most impactful, with names such as Reagan and Bush in the White House.
Israeli Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu said that Kennedy “has been a friend for 30 years, a great American patriot, a great champion of a better world, a great friend of Israel. He will be sorely missed.”
Israel’s President Shimon Peres said, “Kennedy was a clear friend of Israel the whole way, and in every place that he could help us he did.”
He received campaign funds from AIPAC in a re-election run against GOP candidate Mitt Romney.
Kennedy urged the U.S. to keep an eye out for Iran, noting that Iran’s nuclear program could reach Israel.
And last year, after it was revealed that the Senator was suffering with a brain tumor, groups from differing religious and political points of view found words of praise.
The Orthodox Union, on its Web site of May, 2008, wrote of Mr. Kennedy’s help on issues such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The OU offered words of refuah, healing.
It should also be noted that Mr. Kennedy visited Israeli in the mid-’80s to study its health care system. He once called health care reform “the cause of my life.”
And as L.A. Jewish Journal editor-in-chief Rob Eshman noted on his blog about the 1980 presidential primary race, “Polls indicated that Carter would beat Kennedy in the New York Democratic primary by a margin of 54-28 percent. But on March 1, Carter’s U.N. Ambassador, Donald F. McHenry, voted for a viciously anti-Israel resolution in the U.N. Security Council condemning Israeli settlement activity in Jerusalem. Three weeks later, Kennedy beat Carter in New York by 59-41 percent.”
He’ll be remembered for all of the above.