Kennedy Steps Down From Judiciary to Focus on Universal Healthcare

The Lion in Winter

Kennedy’s had a recent reminder of his mortality.  The old lion is in winter, and he’s spent decades trying to get universal health care passed.  I think this is the right decisions, a chance to leave behind a legacy that really matters.  And Kennedy can really, really hurt anyone who gets into his way.  The dying Democratic icon wants one last thing before he passes away, healthcare for all Americans.  If you’re the member of Congress who stops him from giving that to all Americans, unless you’re in a deep red district, you’ll pay a hard price.

In some ways this makes me more hopeful for universal healthcare than anything else – a giant like Kennedy making it his swan song.  I only hope that he is able to push through something really good, like the Medicare-for-all he has supported in the past, rather than something horribly watered down with individual mandates.  No one likes their car insurance, so it boggles the mind that some folks want to do health insurance that way.  I think Kennedy knows that.

Related posts:

1. Ted Kennedy: Health Care “Has Been the Passion of My Life”
2. Name The Public Option, Not the Bill, After Kennedy
3. The Wind and the Lion: Ted Kennedy Mans Up to Mortality
4. The New Ted Kennedy
5. Better than Clearing Brush … Getting HELP from Kennedy?