The Kennedy brothers: Their family's aggressive quest for
power gave way to a thirst for the common good.
Libération, France
'Redemption' and
the Kennedy Clan
"So
it goes with true figures of democracy - ambiguous and encompassing human
weakness. Only dictatorships pretend to purity. The regimes of freedom are
founded on imperfection."
By Laurent Joffrin
Translated By
Sandrine Ageorges
August 27, 2009
France - Liberation - Original Article
(French)
The Kennedys were redeemed.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
The legend that has hovered
over American politics for decades is not only due to the misfortune that has
so often beset this patrician family, haunted by the cruel thirst for power. It
was just as much born of a strange mystical redemption. In the 1940s and 50s,
there wasn't a clan that was more cynical or more determined in its quest for
glory. A brutal father - a liar, very rich and very shady, was marked by his
dealings with the mafia and his indulgence of Hitler. Then there were the
ambitious and frivolous sons, hiding behind the glittering chronometer of the
East coast with an innate sense of maneuver and calculation.
But soon after the avidity
for glory was quenched, there emerged a unique capacity to embody the American
dream and the enthusiasm for progressivism. Thus, through action and
through words, John and Robert were able to make others forget their dark side and enter the
pantheon of American heroes. Thus Ted, the youngest, climbing based on his
name, who panicked at Chappaquiddick, the unfortunate heir beaten by Jimmy
Carter in the race for the nomination, become a wise and conscious legislator
and conscience of the Democratic Party. The last of the Kennedys
was the first of senators, who with smiling authority endorsed Barack Obama
instead of another ambitious and glamorous clan, that of the Clintons.
Redemption …
So it goes with
true figures of democracy - ambiguous and encompassing human weakness. Only dictatorships pretend to purity. The regimes of
freedom are founded on imperfection.
SEE ALSO ON THIS:
El Tiempo, Colombia:
Ted Kennedy: The World Has Lost a Champion
L'Express, France:
Adieu, Senator Kennedy!
Daily Mail, U.K.:
Ted Kennedy 'Loathed
Britain', So Why Was He
Knighted?
Irish Examiner, Ireland:
Ted Kennedy: 'Symbol to Those Who Have Suffered Losses'
CLICK HERE FOR FRENCH VERSION
[Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US August 27, 5:15pm]
