The media coverage devoted to Ted Kennedy’s legacy is getting a little out of hand.  Kennedy had less of an impact on  this country then the likes of Robert McNamara and Jesse Helms, yet his legacy coverage not only trumps that of the aforementioned men, but rivals that of Reagan, Nixon and Johnson.         

What has pushed me over the edge, was watching the President of the Red Sox (who had little more than a casual electronic relationship with the former Senator) interviewed on CNN, reflecting on Ted Kennedy’s legacy.  The CEO of the Red Sox added nothing to the memorial coverage, other then to quote a couple of email he had received from the late Senator.  As an example of my desperation for generic news coverage, I actually watched Geraldo’s coverage of the Jaycee Lee Dugard’s rescue, which is depressing enough to send the most balanced individual on a heavy dose of Prozac.

Ted Kennedy’s legacy can be summed up in one simple sentence;  Not one other Senator had served so long, while accomplishing so little.   For most of Ted Kennedy’s five decades in the Senate, he was surrounded by Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, including 19 of those years with a Democratic President, yet none of his major policy goals were achieved.  His first crusade, saving the American Inuit (Eskimo), failed miserably.   It was to be Ted Kennedy’s civil rights fight, but the American public and government failed to react to Kennedy’s cries of injustice. 

The two most cited examples by the media of Ted Kennedy’s leadership legacy, are the ADA of 1990 and the No Child Left Behind act of 2001. What you are not being told by the mainstream media is that Kennedy had little or no role in developing the legislation or negotiating their passing through Congress.  Both pieces of legislation were developed and spearheaded by Republican Presidents, who recruited Kennedy to appear in photo ops to gain positive public opinion from the left.  The two largest and most noted accomplishments by the ‘lion of the Senate’, was to offer his name in support of moderate Republican legislation.  Kennedy failed to prevent the wars his country fought, failed to pass single payer health care legislation, failed to defeat Jimmy Carter in 1980 and failed to save the impoverished American Inuit.    

Do not get me wrong, I morn the loss of any public servant and Army veteran.  What I will not accept, is a false narrative concocted by the media to sell advertising space and the liberal brand of activism.  Ted’s older brother Jack, was the only Kennedy brother who can claim major liberal legislative successes.  President Kennedy used the power of the government to enforce civil rights, directed federal tax dollars to State education programs, supported American satellite States against the Soviet threat and reformed immigration laws. 

What Ted had hoped to become and what he actually accomplished are two completely different chapters in his public biography.  For the media, who continue to write and broadcast this heroic fiction, all I can say is, I watched Teddy, I read his speeches and legislation, but he is no Jack Kennedy. 

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Kristofer Lorelli can be contacted at lorville@rogers.com, on Facebook and twitter/Kris_Lorelli