WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Leader of the Pack by David Rosenfelt. This is the 10th in this series. It starts with an interesting premise: our hero, Andy Carpenter, lost a case and now he gets a mulligan. He has always believed Joey Disimone was innocent and was only found guilty because his father is a known mobster and, well, it's possible Andy fucked up. One of the things I've always liked about this series is how refreshingly imperfect our hero is.

2. What did you recently finish reading?  Ted Kennedy: A Life by John A. Farrell. Ted Kennedy was Senator for so long -- more than 45 years -- that I took him for granted. I truly either forgot or didn't know how much he accomplished for me, for those I loved, for issues I care about. Voting rights, bilingual education, deregulated air travel, family planning, low-income energy assistance, increases in the federal minimum wage, AIDS education and research, the Americans with Disabilities Act. I didn't realize how much what we call Obamacare was influenced by Kennedy's decades of work ... And that's just on the domestic side of the ledger. It doesn't include his work to end Apartheid and to bring peace to Ireland. His is a tireless, heroic list of legislative achievement. I now understand that I am personally in his debt.

He also let Mary Jo Kopechne die in his car and was home when his nephew committed an alleged rape.*

John Farrell celebrates the glories without whitewashing the undeniably ugly moments. I also enjoyed this book for a glimpse of Teddy's relationships with the White House. Both Nixon and Carter were terrified of Camelot and it brought out the worst in them. The Clintons were dismissive of Teddy's "old school" approach, to the detriment of Bill's legislative agenda. Obama looked at him as a mentor. Surprisingly, Reagan and George W. Bush "got" him and were able to work with him or at least clash without acrimony. Reagan understood, and consequently didn't fear, the Kennedy charisma and its hold on the public, while W. related to him scion-to-scion. 

 

I wonder how Donald Trump would deal with Teddy. Certainly twice-divorced, civilly liable sex offender President Pussy Grabber couldn't take the moral high road. Would he be like Reagan and understand/embrace Camelot? After all, in New York, Trump rubbed up to JFK Jr. whenever he could, has repeatedly compared Melania to Jackie, and welcomed Bobby Jr. to his campaign. Or would he be like Carter and Nixon, who resented the stardust?

At any rate, I highly recommend this book for its scope. Teddy's life story is told with clear-eyed compassion, and his political career is delivered with a level of detail that fascinated the nerd in me.

3. What will you read next? I don't know.

 

*And was found not guilty.