Ted Kennedy's in the hospital. Mary Jo Kopechne's in the ground.
Kennedy, of course, has been one of the major symbols of the Democratic Party and American politics in general for the past forty years or so.
What he symbolizes tends to depend on who is doing the viewing.
To a lot of the old time liberal crowds, Kennedy is a heroic workhorse who provides a much needed reminder of the days when liberalism was actually glamorous.
Rabid supporters of Barack Obama should, quite frankly, view Kennedy as a savior as it was Teddy's endorsement that first really announced that Obama was the new front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
To a lot of conservatives, Ted Kennedy will always be the guy who, whether intentionally or not, killed Mary Jo Kopechne and then got away with it because of his last name.
And to a lot of political reformers, Kennedy is the perfect symbol for the federal government, bloated and out-of-control (as they used to say about Tip O'Neill.)
Right now, however, he is a man who is obviously undergoing a various serious crisis and, as such, I will pay Sen. Kennedy the courtesy that his fellow Democrats were rarely willing to pay Ronald Reagan when he was dying. I will refrain from using this occasion to further belittle and criticize the senator. I will refrain from drawing any comparison between Kennedy's current situation and the events of Chappaquiddick.
It's the decent thing to do.
It's also just common sense.
On that note, I will also refrain from speculating about how this development will affect or possibly "help" Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
Mr. Jackson very well might be correct but seriously, couldn't he have waited a few days before publicly announcing his opinion? Seriously, that comment was so politically tone deaf, insensitive, and insipid that it could have come from an insider over at the Hillary Clinton campaign.
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