Do this for the Memory of Senator Kennedy

Last year I was a delegate for Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. It was the first night of the 4 night convention and the air was charged with hope.

This was my first time as a delegate and the endless 2 minutes speeches were only part of the atmosphere. There were so many people to watch – a great multitude of humanity dressed to celebrate the nomination of Barack Obama. Actors, news anchors and comediens walked through the crowd alongside delegates of every size, color and character. It was a grand parade.

And then tiny Caroline Kennedy walked on to the stage and all eyes were suddenly on the podium. In her soft almost whisper of a voice she talked about and introduced Edward Kennedy as the patriarchial head of the family who has so long been the uber rich champions of the poor in this country.

When Kennedy walked on the stage I started to feel a wave of emotion I never imagined I would feel. It was the passing of the torch and it felt to me that I was one of the ones handing it from President John F. Kennedy out from the grave to the soon to be President Barack Obama. It was overwhelming when Kennedy spoke the words that declared that Obama was the renewal of the hope that had died in Texas so many years ago.

My emotion was captured on television cameras that soon sold that “pool feed” to CNN, ABC, NBC and FOX as I cried while Kennedy spoke. I have been told by many that my face appeared again and again as they showed his speech. I guess it is even in the new video tribute to Kennedy. I can only think that they use that footage because the emotion I was showing was so completely real, I can still feel it right now. I felt the golden cord of history between these two powerful forces – Kennedy to Obama. I helped pass that torch and then I knew that Obama would win and our work for true progressive reform would begin.

Today, when I turned on my local NPR station to hear that Sen. Kennedy had passed I was overtaken again. My work on healthcare reform is, in large part, due to his life’s work on the issue. His understanding that he, as a member of a very wealthy family had access to the best care and that it was not fair that all should not have that same access no matter how much money they had was his motivation. I cried, am crying now, because he will not be able to cast his vote in the Senate for healthcare reform because of the selfish power grabbing of Senator Bacus and the money behind him from the health insurance lobbyists.

And then I read that Kennedy’s death was, to the day, almost to the hour, of the speech that first sent me into tears in Denver.

I will wear black today and mourn the loss of the liberal lion of the Senate. But at the same time I will try to use this as a way to light a fire under others that we must pass this reform for the memory of a man who, though not perfect, did so much for so many with the progressive legislation. We must now pass health care reform because as he said, this was the cause of his life.

President Obama, I know you are feeling this and I hope you will now become that liberal lion and lead us to true health care reform, never wavering in your conviction that now is the time to do the right thing for all Americans.