Ted Kennedy. American Patriot and friend of Ireland.

ted-kennedyIt is sad to hear of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy, one of the liberal giants of late 20th Century US politics. I never met the man, and didn’t agree with all his positions, but broadly speaking, for many of us on the progressive side of politics, he was our guy, and as an Irish-American, he did his bit for the home country.

Over his career, he made a lot of mistakes, and some shameful decisions, but on balance he did more good than harm and spoke out for a lot of people who couldn’t speak out for themselves. Watching his speech to the Democratic convention which nominated Barack Obama, one could not help but see on the faces of the crowd the raw emotion. They knew he was probably saying goodbye, the last of the four Kennedy brothers who gave so much for their country, and listening to that accent, one could almost see the invisible line that started with JFK sending US marshals into the southern states, and ended with the election of the first black President of the United States.

You’ve played your part, Ted. You can go rest now.