Edward Kennedy: The Cause of His Life

With the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, one can’t help but think of all of the milestones that accented his career. Senator Kennedy recognized earlier than most a profound sense of what he considered to his most important cause. For Senator Kennedy, the creation of universal health care in the United States was as he called it, “the cause of my life”. And he fought for it as long and as hard as he could. It is a cruel irony that he did not live to realize his dream. Like Martin Luther King Jr. before him, he saw the “promised land” but did not get to go there with us.

In his absence, the communications war that is being waged over the proposed changes in our health care system has been filled with lies and falsehoods and has left such a bad taste in the mouths of many Americans that passing meaningful comprehensive legislation looks more daunting .

What happens now? After Senator Kennedy is laid to rest and business begins again on Capitol Hill will his death prompt a cease fire in the spread of lies about death panels and other aspects of the proposed health reforms? Will we pass health reform in his memory as Lyndon Johnson was able to do with civil rights reform in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy?

Senator Kennedy’s family will find a way to continue to have his voice heard in this debate. Though the outcome of the health care reform legislation may not change, the death of Senator Kennedy should usher in a more intelligent and thoughtful discussion on how to create a fair and manageable health care system for the country he loved so much.


---Michal Regunberg is a vice president and Francy Ronayne is an account supervisor at Solomon McCown & Company. They can be reached by email at mregunberg@solomonmccown.com and fronayne@solomonmccown.com, respectively.