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Edward Kennedy: A Giant Has Fallen

With the death of Senator Edward Kennedy Wednesday night, curtain has come down on a most remarkable and eventful era in the US politics.

He was the last surviving male member of America’s most illustrious and charismatic political dynasty. He could have followed his brother, John F Kennedy, easily the most popular and loved US president ever, into the White House if it had not been for a tragic accident that clouded his presidential prospects. But then tragedies and the Kennedys have always gone hand in hand.

From the shocking assassination of JFK in 1963 to the murder of his equally promising brother Robert Kennedy during his presidential campaign in 1968 and from young JFK Junior’s accidental death some years ago to Edward Kennedy’s lost battle to cancer, it has been a long series of epic tragedies for the dynasty.

With the exit of Senator Kennedy, it seems America’s love affair with the Kennedys has come to an end too.

Senator Kennedy carried aloft the torch of America’s most popular dynasty and a liberal ideology to the citadel of Senate power for decades, often working as a unifying figure across the isle. He provided a leading liberal voice in the Senate and played a crucial role in legislation to protect human rights and promote equal opportunities. His role in the campaign to end the segregation of and discrimination against African Americans cannot be easily forgotten. No wonder he was often called the Lion of the US Senate. He had been a fierce critic of the war in Vietnam as well as the US invasion of Iraq, repeatedly attacking the Bush administration for its abuse of human rights in the so-called war on terror.

President Barack Obama was hardly exaggerating when he described Ted Kennedy yesterday as the “greatest senator of all times.” Obama has all the reasons to be grateful to his mentor. It was after Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama last year that the tide of liberal, traditional Democratic voters turned in favour of the first African American candidate.

Despite his serious illness, Senator Kennedy went out to passionately campaign for Obama with his niece and JFK’s daughter Caroline Kennedy as if it was his own fight. Which is why President Obama is going to miss his friend, mentor and guide for years to come. So will the rest of the United States. A giant has fallen!