"Ted Kennedy liberal" has been a fairly common slander from Republicans over the past few decades.  During presidential primaries, there was no Democrat in the Senate a candidate would less want to be connected to than Kennedy, as Arizona Republican John McCain discovered while his opponent blasted him for the "Kennedy-McCain Immigration Bill."  The term was used to paint Michael Dukakis as a softie and John Kerry as a pinko.  In conservative districts across the country, largely thanks to the PR efforts of Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy (which also openly advocated disenfranchising minority voters and playing upon racial and cultural tensions to build a bond with rural voters) "Ted Kennedy" became synonymous with everything that was wrong with "liberal America."

But while the Right successfully branded Ted Kennedy as the face of liberalism (and "Massachusetts liberalism" in particular), the Kennedy brand of politics was a always pragmatic one, beginning with John and coninuing on to the current generation.  To the Kennedy's a strong country was one that measured its strength both in military might and in its ability to care for its poor, its orphaned, and its unemployed, and treated all equally before the eyes of the law.  It's why the United States military remained the strongest on the international stage following World War II, while simultaneously initiating programs that brought electricity to the Tennessee Valley for the first time, improved education in rural areas, and ensured that seniors would have access to medical care as they advanced in age.

If there is one thing Edward the Great in particular was not, it was a radical.  He led from the center of his own party, and very often from the center of the entire political spectrum.  There's a reason Teddy was beloved by the old hands of the Senate Republican caucus, from Orrin Hatch to John McCain, George Voinovich, Charles Grassley, (until recently) Arlen Specter, and former Senator John Warner.  In fact, some of the most touching tributes to Kennedy's service in the Senate came not from men of his own ideological ilk, but from members of the GOP.

Looking back over the last three-quarters of a century, the Kennedy family has been at the forefront of everything that is right in America: investment in education, investment in military (not just in bombs, machines, and manpower- though that's certainly a part of it- but also in opportunities and care for veterans), protection of rights for workers, minorities, and women.  It was Ted Kennedy who was spurring our citizens to service, in the same call of his brother's famous line ("Ask not what your country can do for you..."), while George Bush sat idly telling people to go to their nearest shopping malls.

That's why this nation still needs a dose of Camelot.  Because the Kennedys were never about blind liberalism for the sake of opposition to conservative principles.  They had a clear cut goal of driving the economy, keeping our military strong, and making sure that no American slipped through the cracks for lack of opportunity.

The "Kennedy era" doesn't need to be over.  It needs to continue.

The man to carry the mantle forth, for better or worse, is Joe Kennedy.  Cut from the same cloth as his uncle Teddy, his father Robert, his other uncle John, and every other member of the family who has dedicated his or life to public service, Joe Kennedy spent nearly 15 years in the House of Representatives before leaving office return to the non-profit company he started that provides affordable energy to the poor (his bilboards around Massachusetts asked, "Out in the cold?  Call Joe Kennedy").

As a Congressman, he worked for balanced budgets, extending credit to American homebuyers and small business owners, increasing the availability of low-cost housing, investing in health care, investigating Gulf War syndrome, investing in new energy solutions and technology, and  overhauling the credit reporting system.

Kennedy has yet to declare his candidacy for Ted's Senate seat, and he may not at all.  But for the good of this country- not for the good of the Democratic Party or for the good of liberalism, for the good of America- we can only hope that he does.