Reaction to Ted Kennedy’s death is beginning to pour in this morning and dominated the international press review. Some of the obituaries and reactions we looked at are here below:

The headline in USA Today is “Sen. Ted Kennedy dies”. The paper notes that the hallmark of Kennedy’s career was its incredible turn around.Many predicted that the Chappaquiddick affair would end his career.This was an incident in 1969 where Kennedy drove a car off a bridge in Massachusetts, killing a young female passenger. He only informed the authorities the next day. At the time, he was under immense pressure to carry the family flame but this did not excuse his behaviour in the eyes of the American public. His ambitions to run for the White House never materialised as a direct result of this incident. However, the paper notes, “by the time of his death this morning, he was known as ‘The Lion of the Senate’”

Kennedy won the respect of the political establishment by reaching across the aisle in an attempt to get things done, most notably in healthcare reform. He worked with George W Bush on education reform and with some of the most conservative Republicans on AIDS research.

One example of how his career was turned around: Senator Robert Byrd, a Democrat recalled Kennedy’s Senatorial career – “I did not particularly like him in the beginning and he didn’t like me.” When the news broke of Kennedy’s diagnosis with cancer last year, Byrd broke down in tears on the Senate floor, calling out, “Ted, Ted, my dearest friend, I love you and I miss you.”

If life were like the movies, the paper says, “an ailing Kennedy would have been wheeled into the Senate chamber to cast a final, decisive vote on universal healthcare…Alas that cinematic finale was not to be.”

The New York Times reports the family statement which says, “the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light of our lives has been lost.” The paper calls him the “son of one of the most storied families in American politics.” The obituary goes back over his life – saying he struggled with his weight, with alcohol and with persistent tales of womanising. However it notes that his personal life stabilised in 1992 with his second marriage.

The obituary ends with a commentary by Norman J. Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute: “He was a quintessential Kennedy, in the sense that he had all the warts as well as all the charisma and lot of the strengths.”

The website Politico reports some of the reactions to Kennedy’s passing. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.):
“Ted Kennedy’s America was one in which all could pursue justice, enjoy equality and know freedom…The liberal lion’s mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die.”

From California, former First Lady Nancy Reagan said she was “deeply saddened” by the news of Kennedy’s death.

The front page of the Huffington Post features a quote from a speech Kennedy made when receiving a special honorary doctorate at Harvard in December. This is likely to become his epitaph. “We Know The Future Will Outlast All Of Us, But I Believe That All Of Us Will Live On In The Future We Make. I Have Lived A Blessed Time.”

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