U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy was one of the few in American leadership who had earned my respect and is worth mentioning with good regards...
On 26th June, 2002 for the inauguration of the Silk Roads Festival in Washington DC he expressed deep appreciation of the role being played by the Aga Khan in the process of education and cultural understanding around the world and said for His Highness The Aga Khan, "Now more than ever, His is a voice that needs to be heard and understood."
Rest In Peace…Senator! Once in a while, we will be pouring some Chivas Regal on your grave
President Obama's Eulogy
President Barack Obama delivered the eulogy of Senator Edward M. Kennedy in Boston in front of dignitaries, family and friends.
Senator Kennedy has been widely acclaimed as a progressive legislator, a bi-partisan facilitator, the keeper of the liberal flame in America. For 47 years he was the elected representative of the people of Massachusetts. His personal life was less than perfect, but his constituents always had the right to hold him to account and to send him packing if they wanted to. It's something they never did.
Kennedy's legislative achievements are unrivalled in the annals of the American Senate. He is given credit for some of the most far-sighted legislation that has ever been enacted in the U.S. Congress -- legislation he championed in the areas of health, education, labour, the judiciary, refugees, civil rights and foreign policy has bettered the lives of millions of Americans.
There should be no mistaking Kennedy's impact on public life. The New York Times extolled the Kennedy record and applauded "his spirit, his devotion to helping Americans in need and his belief that politics, not always a savoury calling, can make a real difference." USA Today praised Kennedy as "the Lion of the Senate, lauded by political friends and foes alike as one of the most effective legislators in the nation's history."
In John McCain's home state, the Arizona Republic said that Kennedy's "willingness to reach across the aisle to Republicans was legendary," and it's this kind of accommodation that "can lead to greatness."
