I VOTE FOR VICKI

Ted Kennedy has been eulogized and remembered in many ways over the past few days and I must say, I watched most of it with some detachment. Like others, I came to the Kennedy magic through Jack and Bobby. Teddy was simply not them. He was given the thankless task of clean up. He was the younger brother who got to grow old and stand-in at every family event from funerals to weddings. He was the one God blessed or cursed with a long life.

Ted never got my attention or my soul because he never seemed authentic, more like a caricature of an Irish politician. I liked his issues but couldn't quite believe him. As I watched his funeral, a sense of his spirit became a reality for me. Maybe my separateness from him was of my own making, a resentment that he survived and not Jack or Bobby. And when he turned his back on Hillary, I could not see the possibility that he was not a traitor but instead actually faithful to his core principle of equal rights. Obama was the culmination of that belief and the hope of that ideal becoming integrated into the fabric of America. Maybe Ted understood the vision and helped delivered it into the world better than I understood.

What I witnessed today was his redemption as a human being, his great heart and his wisdom that grew from his past hurts and wrongdoings. I felt this most as I watched his wife, Vicki. She was composed, in charge, and caring towards everyone. She smiled as his progeny delivered his message through the Prayers of the Faithful. And I thought, Vicki may have been his best choice and decision as he entered the end time of his life. She has been with him for the past 17 years helping to mold his life, both public and private. Vicki, a lawyer herself, is a member of an old Louisiana political family; her father being well-known Louisiana Judge Edmund Reggie. While Reggie's history, like a lot of Louisiana's politicians, is a bit checkered including a federal conviction, his political ties are fascinating and far-reaching. It appears that in 1956, at the Democratic Convention, Reggie broke with his delegation and backed the fresh face of John F. Kennedy for Vice President. Even though Jack lost that effort, a life-long friendship was forged between Reggie and the Kennedy family. Vicki’s father had close relationships with many in politics, including the Clintons. Vicki grew up in this political environment and that support by her father in 1956 of a young Kennedy is the prelude to this point. No one should dismiss her at this time from a path into politics that may have been written long ago.

It was reported that Ted thought Vicki should take his senate seat. I agree. She can deliver his vision on health care and equality….who knows…maybe even the first woman president.