It’s hard to describe my emotional relationship with Ted Kennedy. That’s because it has changed so much over time. As a veteran political observer I’ve seen Jack, Bobby and Ted right from the beginning of JFK’s administration.

To be sure, I must confess that throughout the 60s and 70s I considered Ted the lightweight of the trio. He didn’t have the gift of soaring rhetoric that his brother Jack had. JFK was downright inspirational. I remember as a teenager how shivers went down my spine when the new President uttered that famous challenge, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I couldn’t believe my ears. It may have been the first time in my entire life that anyone asked me to consider something beyond my own narrow self-interest. Not just politicians mind you. Anyone!! Contrast that to what we have today. Pols promising to cut your taxes or bring you this or that benefit. It’s all about what’s in it for you and little else.

Bobby brought different attributes to the table. Different but no less important. While he didn’t have JFK’s ability to deliver inspirational speeches he had an intensity that grabbed you and held you. When Bobby got an idea in his head he would not rest until he made you look at it. And make you look at it he did. Even if you didn’t want to. It was as if he grabbed your head and prevented you from turning away. Bobby made us look at racism. Bobby made us look at poverty. Bobby made us look at Vietnam. He challenged us to look, and he challenged us to do better.

And what of Ted? During this era I considered him the lesser light. Ted the playboy. Ted having a good time. Ted the lightweight living off his brothers’ reputations. It wasn’t until 1980 that Ted actually caught my attention in a serious way. He made a spirited challenge at the Convention against Jimmy Carter. But even then I was left cold. I thought: Bobby or Jack would have cleaned Carter’s clock-incumbency or not. They would have gone on to beat Reagan and everything would be different now. I was mad at Ted for not winning.

I don’t know when it was that I realized that I was wrong about Ted Kennedy. But wrong I was. You needed to watch Ted over a long period of time to realize what was special about him. It wasn’t obvious like it was with his brothers. If JFK inspired and Bobby challenged us, what did Ted do? Ted got it done, that’s what! He was tenacious as hell. He was no Bill Clinton, asking us to pass welfare reform with the promise to revisit what was wrong with it and then never coming back. Ted came back over and over and over again.

If Henry Clay was the “Great Compromiser” of the 19th century, then Ted Kennedy was the “Great Compromiser” of the 20th. I say that without an ounce of criticism. If every incrementalist kept his eye on the ball the way Ted did, then we’d all be incrementalists. Ted never sold out his liberalism. Every compromise he made advanced the cause of his liberal dream for America another step. Ted was always chipping away. Always building. Willing to let Republicans slander him in public and use him as a fund-raising punching bag without ever returning fire. He took his payback at the bargaining table. Ted was relentless in his pursuit of his vision of a just and great society.

Working people have lost a great friend and champion. He is sorely missed already in the health care debate going on now. I know I miss him. Although he didn’t have the great charm of Jack or the ability to hold your attention like Bobby, the legacy of accomplishment he leaves behind makes Ted the greatest Kennedy.

What is your take on Ted’s legacy?