Ted Kennedy's Memoir

The media is abuzz with the news of Ted Kennedy's forthcoming memoirs. Though the Times wasn't supposed to get a copy, they did, and the Post is reporting on both that story, and the memoir's contents.

Two important pieces of information are revealed in this reporting, relevant to the ongoing battle over Sen. Kennedy's legacy. First, Kennedy says definitively that he wants his legacy to be real health care reform.

The book ends with Kennedy's hope that readers will be inspired to take up his unfinished cause of health-care reform.

"If you persevere, stick with it, work at it, you have a real opportunity to achieve something," he wrote. - The Washington Post

This comes as no surprise to the people who have been fighting this battle on Capitol Hill and in our neighborhoods for the past six months. Indeed, there is a strong movement to rename the core bills currently under consideration in honor of Sen. Kennedy.

Another interesting tidbit from the Post's article is this:

Kennedy had been working on the autobiography for two years, and finished just a few months before his death last week. He reportedly received an $8 million advance.

Kennedy drew on notes in a personal journal he kept for almost 50 years, beginning with his brother John F. Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign. He also relied on interviews conducted for a five-year oral history project by the University of Virginia. - The Washington Post

It is fantastic to hear that UVA has been recording oral histories, including Sen. Kennedy's. I hope some day I will be able to take my daughter to my alma mater and let her hear the voice of the man who was singularly responsible for so much of the progress and opportunity she will be able to take advantage of in her life.