Although I am obviously not able to read the minds of everyone in America, nor have I seen polling on this issue, I do not think that Ted Kennedy was as widely admired (and certainly not as revered) as prominent Democrats think. The immediate reaction of Nancy Pelosi, among many others, was an attempt to use Kennedy’s death to push healthcare reform. This effort, along with the hagiography of the media, is predicated on the notion that Kennedy was a great and well-loved figure.
No one can argue that he was an influential and powerful senator, but, to put it simply, he was not a very good person. As a bit of anecdotal evidence, I grew up in a house where JFK and Robert Kennedy were idolized (primarily by my mother), but Ted Kennedy was held in contempt. Even without getting into his culpability over Chappaquiddick, it was no secret that he was an alcoholic and womanizer. Not to mention arrogant and spoiled. Add on top of that the fact that he was an ultra-liberal in a center-right country, and you have a very flawed ‘hero.’
Personally, I think the efforts by Democrats to capitalize on Kennedy’s death will, at best (for them), have no effect. It is as likely to backfire. I strongly doubt that anyone that is currently opposed to a government takeover of healthcare is going to change their mind just because “Teddy would have wanted it.” If there are any fence-sitters left on the issue, the crass politicizing of Kennedy’s death by the Democrats and Kennedy’s own poor reputation among non-liberals may push them away from, rather than sway them towards, healthcare reform.
UPDATE:
Ed Morrissey at HotAir apparently feels the same:
Concocting a “do it for Teddy” campaign assumes that most people admired him, which may be an arguable proposition even now.
Ed also calls the Democratic “hope of a ‘Kennedy effect’ on ObamaCare” wishful thinking.
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