Ted Kennedy, Jr shuns spotlight, but not duty

[graywarrior]

When he stepped to the lectern in Boston’s Mission Church last month to eulogize the father he considered his best friend, Ted Kennedy Jr. mesmerized the nation, and reduced many listeners to tears, with a story of a sled, a snowy hill, and a father’s love.

When his father’s memoir goes on sale tomorrow, the younger Kennedy will be back in the national spotlight, standing in for the man who shared his name as he fulfills one last outstanding duty, to promote the legendary senator’s life story.

It is an undertaking sure to spur assessments, already rampant, of his potential to inherit the family political mantle.

For most of his 47 years, Kennedy has avoided the glare of the media. Friends say he revels in the privacy and normalcy of his life in Branford, Conn., a seaside suburb of New Haven, with his psychiatrist wife, Kiki, and their two children. The family joins in carpools and town soccer games, and they are regulars at the opera house in nearby East Haddam, where Kennedy has dazzled the director with his knowledge of musical theater.

Busy with his family, his advocacy for the disabled, and his growing Manhattan asset management firm, Kennedy did not have to volunteer to publicize “True Compass,’’ Senator Kennedy’s autobiography, written before his death on Aug. 25. But to Ted Jr., the senator’s middle child and eldest son, the mission felt essential: to bring a three-dimensional portrait of his father to the public, encompassing his inner life as well as his legislative successes.

Ted Jr. “wants the world to see that was an incredibly spiritual person,’’ said a person close to the family who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

He will launch the book campaign tonight before an audience of millions with an interview on “60 Minutes.’’ In it, he describes his father’s expectation that he and his siblings make the most of their place “in this incredibly lucky family.’’

“Yes, bad things have happened to us. But we’ve been given incredible advantages,’’ he says, according to an excerpt. “And the question really is, ‘What are we going to do with ourselves to make this world a better place?’’’

(more at link)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/09/13/ted_kennedy_jr_shuns_spotlight_but_not_duty_to_fathers_memory/


60 Minutes
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/11/60minutes/main5303789.shtml?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

[lamp_shade]

1. I'll be watching.

[babylonsister]

2. Thanks, I'll be watching and am anxious to read this book! nt

[orpupilofnature57]

3. Those Kennedy's have an innate Civic Gene , A Real American Legacy

[malaise]

4. Thanks for the headsup graywarrior

I'll be watching

[Jennicut]

5. I really like Ted Jr. Seems so intelligent and down to earth.

And he lives about 50 minutes away from me in Branford. Nice town by the shore. I live more in Northern CT now but grew up closer to that area.

[Ocracoker16]

6. I look forward to watching that this evening

[malaise]

7. Kick n/t

[graywarrior]

8. Coming up next!

[malaise]

10. How do you ever recover from having two brothers assassinated?

Damn this is too sad. Teddy Jnr. was almost in tears.

[azbarq]

9. that's super!

I love idolizing rich people. They have always been so helpful in the past.

[graywarrior]

11. Good bye, now.

Back to your teabagging.

[malaise]

12. Oh no

not another live one.

Time to order flowers.

[graywarrior]

13. Flowers are too good for them.

Poison ivy.

[malaise]

14. LOL

Oh my gawd - Guiding Light is about to be 'tombstoned' as well. :D

[azbarq]

15. what is your problem?

Hmm?

[karynnj]

16. There is no way that Teddy Kennedy deserves that reaction

No one here has "idolized" him, most of us recognize that he has had a hand in nearly every liberal piece of legislation in 40 plus years.

[azbarq]

18. the headline idolizes him

and he's rich and therefore I hate him because he is my natural enemy.

[karynnj]

20. gee - all he did was play major roles in creating medicare and medicaid,

being the lead sponsor on SCHIP which gave millions of kids insurance, playing a role in getting the civil rights act passed. He was the sponsor on every bill to increase the minimum wage. I could go on (or steal the really nice list in Kerry's memorial speech), but if all he did was the things listed above, it would be enough to make him a hero to working people. He spent a lifetime giving back to society.

The headline does not "idolize" him.

It is completely tacky to attack someone - loved by many of his - soon after his death.

[DangerousRhythm]

17. Ok, thanks for sharing. Make sure you light all the candles in your Reagan shrine.

Wouldn't wanna miss one or the FOX News secret police might come and take you away.

Zzzzz.

[azbarq]

19. reagan was rich, too, and I hate him, too

the GOPers like rich people. I hate rich people. I hope you see the difference.

[graywarrior]

21. LOL