AndyO Blog

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Senator Ed Kennedy

I saw Senator Ed Kennedy at a work event yesterday. He gave a speech and then took a bunch of questions. My dad, who goes to Toastmasters on a regular basis, said that the hardest kind of speech to give is Q & A. And Kennedy did some amazing Q & A. It didn't seem like there was a subject he didn't know a lot about, but I know it's a Senator's job to know about a wide range of subjects.

As he talked, a lot of thoughts went through my mind. First, I thought a lot about his brother JFK. JFK has always been an abstraction to me, especially with all the mystery surrounding his assassination. But JFK was a real guy, and his brother was now speaking right in front of me. I also thought about his other brother, RFK, and how he was killed, too. It must be hard to have two brothers killed.

Of course, there's always that thing that happened to Ted called Chappaquiddick, the event that would prevent Ted Kennedy from ever seeking the White House. But you can see in his eyes that he's past that event. Something like that would destroy most people, but he's continued to serve his country.

Afterward, I waited in line with others and shook the Senator's warm hand. He definitely had the Kennedy charm and charisma that you hear about. I also had him sign my Tablet PC (a digital signature). He thought that was pretty neat.

posted by AndyO @ 10:34 PM   0 comments