Legacy

Got a call from my mother today outraged about the coverage over Ted Kennedy's hospitalization. Her main gripe is that the media, in doing their pieces on his long career, seem to be skipping past July 18, 1969.

I'm sure they are, but it opens up bigger questions. No, 40 years (almost) does not erase what Kennedy did that night. As we hear of his family there with him in the hospital, some of us can only think that Mary Jo Kopechne's family never got that chance. She was left to drown in a car in a lake by the Senator from Massachusetts.

Today he never would've gotten away with it. Well, most likely he wouldn't have gotten away with it. Who knows. Money can buy an awful lot.

But how often should the media mention Chappaquiddick? Is it necessary every time there is a story about Ted Kennedy, good or bad, to remind folks that he drove drunk, crashed his car in a lake, saved himself and left his passenger to die and then, oh yeah, forgot to get help or even report the accident until after the authorities had already pulled up his car from the lake the following day?

Maybe not every time, but then again we now have a new generation of people who are probably not fully aware of what Kennedy did. Hell, I was only four but I'm a history buff. To many, Chappaquiddick was a car accident where some girl died if its even that. They don't know the details. And without the details, it becomes a blip and we minimize what happened there. It becomes a moment of "bad judgement," instead of callous indifference to human life or vehicular manslaughter or whatever else you want to call it.

On the other hand, should every move Kennedy makes be cloaked in Chappaquiddick? Maybe it should. I don't know that either. It stopped him from being president. And call it a hunch, when it is his time, we will hear a whole lot about July 18, 1969.

The other question is tougher. I understand my mother's anger, but unfortunately I've had enough therapy and been in enough similar situations to know that there is something deeper going on there. Not saying she can't be mad that at least right now there seems to be some memory loss regarding Kennedy, but it is transplanted anger about something else.

Ted Kennedy will ultimately answer for what he did and didn't do that night. Now if I can find out what else my mom is angry about.