To Sail Against the Wind
Jarrett Rush, in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, breaks the news that Ted Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. Rush's short blog post focuses on his and his generation's impression of Kennedy, not as the effective senior senator from Massachusetts, but as a punchline of late-night comedians.
Others of a slightly older generation, remember Ted Kennedy challenging President Jimmy Carter to fight for universal health insurance. Kennedy inspired the Democratic mid-term convention in Memphis in 1978 with a passionate speech:
"There are some who say we cannot afford national health insurance. ... Sometimes a party must sail against the wind. We cannot afford to drift or lie at anchor. We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail."Today, thirty years later, Kennedy's goal is still unfulfilled, the country still adrift. Voters have the best chance in generation to elect a President and a Congress who can do something about that. The wind is shifting.
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