Kennedy: A Little Like Everyone, a Lot Like No One Else

May 23, 2008

Source:The New York Times

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company. All Rights Reserved.

WASHINGTON -- Congress is rife with types: the Serious Legislator, the Bomb Thrower, the Show Horse, the Workhorse, the Blowhard, the Orator, the Partisan, the Statesman, the Prima Donna, the Mentor, the Old-fashioned Pol and the Visionary.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy is the rare man who shows flashes of them all, making him a singular senator, one of the last towering figures on a stage where the players and the performances seem to be shrinking even as the problems expand.

As word of his grave medical condition shook the Senate this week, Capitol Hill struggled with the question of why the mere thought of a Senate without Mr. Kennedy was so unsettling. Serious senatorial illnesses and even death are not uncommon. What was it about the idea of Mr. Kennedy never again thundering from the floor, lumbering down the hallway or joking in the corridor that was so disturbing to lawmakers no matter their party?

The potential answers are many, but the question could come down to just one fundamental truth: Mr. Kennedy, love him or loathe him, personifies stability and continuity. He somehow provides a sense of reassurance that political tumult is transitory while serious achievement is not.

Presidents come and go, Senate leaders pass through, majority power ebbs and flows, but Mr. Kennedy has for more than four decades commanded the nation's attention from the Senate floor.

''He is the anchor,'' said Tom Daschle, the former majority leader and a close friend. ''He is the pillar. He doesn't change despite the political winds that keep changing. He is the one most of us want to tie our political fortunes to.''

It was fitting that news of Mr. Kennedy's cancer continued to preoccupy lawmakers on Wednesday, when Congress was recognizing the centennial of the birth of Lyndon B. Johnson, the original Master of the Senate. The tributes could almost have been for Mr. Kennedy as Johnson was remembered as a man who knew how to use legislative power to accomplish his goals on civil rights; as a creature of the Senate; as a man who, in the words of Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, ''dared to find agreement even with those he most disagreed with.''

Mr. Kennedy has also dared to legislate at a time when passing laws has seemed less important than scoring political points. While others nibble around the policy edges, he has in recent years taken on immigration and a major education overhaul and played a primary role in the biggest expansion of Medicare since its inception. His efforts on immigration and the Medicare prescription drug benefit in particular made some of his own Democratic colleagues nervous as they feared he was so determined to legislate that he might deprive them of a political talking point.

Mr. Kennedy, 76, may be the last of his kind for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that few people will log nearly a half-century in the Senate. Mr. Kennedy sought an exit in 1980, running unsuccessfully for president. That failure unintentionally freed him to make his mark as a legislator, having a more significant impact over a longer period than a president could.

But the culture is changing. Though this year has been an exception, ambitious politicians have not viewed the Senate as the best springboard to the White House, looking instead to governorships as they hope to avoid the Washington insider stigma.

Even those who choose Washington tend to specialize. Pursuing legislation can be tedious, time-consuming and highly frustrating. And few are willing to take the risks that Mr. Kennedy has in attacking the big topics of the day, hammering away at the injustices he sees, leaving him red-faced and shouting on the floor, his voice carrying into the surrounding hallways without benefit of C-Span. And if some of his solutions cost the government some money, well, that is what the government is for.

Mr. Kennedy is one of the Senate's few celebrities, yet he does not rely on that status to push his agenda. His signature skill is forging consensus on social initiatives. He is uniquely qualified to do it, a fierce liberal who has the credibility in his party to cut a deal with the opposition, and the confidence from the opposition that he will keep his word.

''If you can find common ground with Senator Kennedy, you can do it on a handshake,'' said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. ''I never had him any time back out of what he told me he was going to do. I enjoy fighting with him, and I enjoy working with him.''

The genetic nondiscrimination bill signed into law on Wednesday by President Bush was just his latest victory, an accomplishment years in the making that culminated with a final breakthrough in personal negotiations with Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoman who is as conservative as Mr. Kennedy is liberal.

What makes Mr. Kennedy unique? In an age of politics as entertainment, he does not provide the great sound bite, often failing to finish his sentences as his thoughts jump ahead. But is one of the few senators who always stop tourists in their tracks, one of the most recognizable figures in American politics.

Fellow senators clamor for his help because they know he adds real heft and brings a staff long considered one of the most knowledgeable in the Senate.

His colleagues say he is partly defined by his passion, which can make him as emotional in private as he sometimes is in public. And they point to his personality, which seems tailored to the legislative give-and-take, a skill at steering people in his direction without them realizing it.

''He cares enormously about what he does,'' said Representative Barney Frank, a fellow Democrat from Massachusetts. ''And he really likes it.''

His colleagues hope their days of jousting and joshing with Mr. Kennedy are not at an end. They say they want him back in good health for his sake and their own.

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