Worldwide reaction pouring in on the death of Ted Kennedy. I was lucky enough to see him in a small setting when he came to my city to campaign for Barack Obama in the spring of 2008. There is no question that his early and (at the time) surprising early endorsement was decisive in Obama's upset victory over the Clinton juggernaut. Kennedy was one of the few leaders in the US Senate who had the courage and integrity to criticize loudly the Bush/Cheney decision to invade Iraq on false pretenses while his colleagues in Congress and the US press cowered in fear and engaged in shameful flag-waving.
Mark Pitzke in Der Spiegel remembers Ted Kennedy as "a giant, an icon' :
Siebenmal in Folge wiedergewählt, war er zuletzt der am zweitlängsten amtierende Senator der Gegenwart, nach dem 91-jährigen Robert Byrd, und der am drittlängsten amtierende in der US-Geschichte. Er profilierte sich als Verfechter linker und sozialer Interessen, als polternde Stimme für Arme, Entrechtete, Einwanderer, Minderheiten, die sonst nur wenig Beistand finden im machtzentrierten Washington. (Kennedy was reelected seven times in a row and in the end he was the second-longest serving senator in recent times, next to the 91-year old Robert Byrd, and the third-longest serving senator in US history. He stood out an advocate for left and social interests, as a ringing voice for the poor, the disenfranchised, immigrants and minorities - groups that otherwise found little support in the power-possessed Washington.)
Die Zeit recalls Kennedy as "A Great Democrat":
Kennedy kämpfte gegen die Apartheid, für Chancengleichheit aller ethnischen Gruppen, für eine bessere Bildung, für eine Anhebung der Mindestlöhne, für Kinder, Behinderte und Kranke. Von Anfang an war er ein entschiedener Gegner des Irakkrieges, den er als Bushs Vietnamkrieg brandmarkte. 2004 machte sich Kennedy für die Wahl von John Kerry zum Präsidenten stark. Doch im Gegensatz zu Kerry stimmte Kennedy im Senat gegen den Irakkrieg. (Kennedy fought against apartheid, for equal opportunity for all groups, for better education, for raising the minimum wage, for children, the handicapped and the sick. From the very beginning he was a decisive opponent of the Iraq War, which he called Bush's Vietnam. In 2004 he came out strong for the candidacy of John Kerry for president. But unlike Kerry he voted in the Senate against the Iraq War.)
This summer we have seen in "town hall meetings" the ugly forces of reaction and racism in America doing everything possible to derail Kennedy's dream of affordable universal health care. It remains to be seen if we as a nation can fulfill Ted Kenndy's vision of greatness, or whether we are just a second-rate oligarchy.
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