Moving on from the Kennedy dynasty
The Kennedy family, in its heyday, in September 1963, at its Hyannis Port, Mass., home base. Of course, John F. Kennedy, in white shirt, was assassinated only a few weeks later, on Nov. 22, 1963.
From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
The defeat of Congressman Joseph Kennedy in his attempt to unseat Sen Edward Markey, another liberal Democrat, has been cited as the end of a long era of Kennedy pre-eminence of Massachusetts. I don’t know about that – a week is an eternity of politics – but it was interesting. Consider that Senator Markey, who is 74 and looks at least that, defeated Mr. Kennedy, who is 39 and looks younger, in no small degree because Mr. Markey ran as the more “progressive’’ candidate and in doing so grabbed a lot of young voters for whom the Kennedy dynasty seems ancient history.
The latter didn’t experience the dynasty’s political heyday -- from the ‘50s until about 2000 – and the family “charisma’’ factor eluded them.
I don’t like political dynasties – they engender cults of personality and can suck the oxygen out of politics. The effort to create a Third World dictatorship kind of dynasty out of the Trump crime family is particularly scary.
Having said that, I’ve found the carrot-topped young Kennedy one of the best politicians to come out of that big gene pool. He’s honest, hard-working, self-disciplined, a stable family man, likeable and not arrogant. He’ll probably run again for high political office and win.
When I was growing up in Massachusetts, my family favored the sort of moderate Republicans now exemplified by the very popular and competent Gov. Charlie Baker – people such as Gov. John Volpe and Sen. Leverett Saltonstall -- and they often saw the Kennedys as ruthless and arrogant. Such Republicans were then common around America. But much of the party has since gone south and west and far right.
Where it's Arbor Day everyday; Kennedy on Chappy
“Path, Arnold Arboretum” (photo), by RUSSELL duPONT, in the show "Artists in the Arboretum,'' at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 125 Arborway, Boston, Sept. 17-Oct. 18.
Arboretums can be magical. We just toured the exquisite and unexpected Mytoi Japanese Garden on Chappaquiddick Island, part of Martha's Vineyard. Very, very soothing. Everything was perfect except that otters had eaten all the gold fish in the lily-padded pond.
Then we took on the ugly, as we traced the routes that the late Sen. Edward Kennedy took in his drinking, driving and other activities on the night of July 18, 1969 that resulted in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne when Mr. Kennedy drove a car off a bridge into the water.
None of excuses/explanations he gave were plausible but local authorities were in the pocket of the Kennedys so he avoided a vehicular-manslaughter charge and proceeded with his political career. But the accident may well have prevented him from becoming president.
-- Robert Whitcomb