The Unglamorous Kennedy & a Passive Aggressive Tribute from Orrin Hatch
In Forbes, former Reason Editor Virginia Postrel looks at Ted Kennedy from the viewpoint of glamour:
We had way too much information about Ted Kennedy. Unlike his brothers, he lived to become bloated and middle-aged and politically out-of-step with the times. He lived to lose–to Jimmy Carter, the antithesis of glamour–and to see Reaganism triumph. And, of course, he lived to experience a scandal, Chappaquiddick, that even the Kennedy family could not retouch away.
Postrel also has a sharp take on whether President Obama, who called to mind more-glamorous pols such as JFK during the campaign, can govern while trying to stay above the fray.
And here's a godawful tribute song from senatorial tunesmith and Ted Kennedy pal, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). Beyond the generic sentiments (this song, with less revision time than it took Bernie Taupin to crank out "Goodbye England's Rose," could have been about anybody from Joseph Smith to Bob Novak to Billy Mays), there is this curious water imagery:
Just honor him
Honor him
And on the reefs of despair
We shall not crash.