The Last Brother by Joe McGinniss

The Last Brother by Joe McGinniss


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Joseph P Kennedy, father of brothers Joseph, John, Robert, and Edward believed: "It's not what you are that counts, but only what people think you are."

That sums up what the myths surrounding the Kennedy family are all about. Created by the Kennedys and furthered by an adoring media, Americans came to elevate the Kennedys to the status of royalty for over 3 decades. It is from this point of view that Joe McGinniss has written The Last Brother: The Rise and Fall of Teddy Kennedy. McGinniss states in his Author's Note at the end of his book that he wanted to write an account that took into consideration what it felt like to be Edward Kennedy; or to have some understanding and empathy for what it was like to deal with the pressure of being the fat little brother who wasn't up to competing with his older, more accomplished siblings. For the most part, I think McGinniss did what he set out to do in that regard; but, there were times when McGinniss came dangerously close to suggesting we have sympathy for Edward Kennedy.

McGinniss begins his book with the assassination of President John F Kennedy. He illustrates from this grim example how little Teddy Kennedy knew of his family's plans for the future and what exactly those plans entailed. The father of the Kennedy clan, Joseph P Kennedy, was the mastermind behind a plan to bring the Kennedy name to power in the US as a dynasty unto themselves. Through his fortune he was able to manipulate or outright buy any outcome he wanted in any given situation. Joseph Jr, Jack, and Bobby each understood and were primed for their specific roles in the plan. Having come along almost as an afterthought to the family, Teddy was given no specific outline of his role, and from childhood on he more or less flew by the seat of his pants. When his brother Jack was assassinated, he had no idea what to do, where to be, nor any idea how to perform. He was unprepared to serve his family in any capacity at all much less become an example to his country of how royalty behaves under fire.

The material presented as fact in McGinniss' book is a matter of public reacord, and the bibliography McGinniss lists at the end of the book is extensive. He did his research. What gets somewhat murky is assuming McGinniss knows what Ted Kennedy thought which motivated him to behave as he did through the many crises in his life. And it is within some of those passages that it seemed to me there was occasionally too much of a plea for sympathy to Kennedy. Empathy I may be able to grasp, but sympathy? Not in any lifetime.

The picture that emerges of Teddy Kennedy as viewed through the facts, in my opinion, remains one of an irresponsible, cowardly, indecisive, dissipated, philandering boy/man who came far too close to becoming President of the United States based on the myth surrounding his family name rather than the facts of his life. For that reason, I'd recommend reading this book just to see the process by which something like this can happen. One would hope the lesson learned would be to never allow a man like Ted Kennedy or a family like his to so invade the national interests of our country again because there are no messiahs in the political spectrum or any other spectrum for that matter. Unfortunately, it appears that lesson was not learned and it continues to happen all over again.

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The Senator by Richard E Burke

The Senator: My Ten Years with Ted Kennedy by Richard E. Burke

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

For 10 years Richard E Burke served as an aide to Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Burke's duties included literally running the Senator's life for him both professionally and personally. That makes this book a highly subjective biography of Kennedy since Burke reports that among other things he and The Senator shared were drug use and some of the same women. Given the level of drug use to which both men subjected themselves, there is often good reason to question the accuracy of what Burke reports. The chapter on the Kennedy visit to Russia in 1978 is a good example of this; it reads more like an episode from Get Smart than it does like a Senator's state visit to a foreign country. However, much of what Burke writes about is a matter of public record; all he's done is flesh out more details.

Burke reports that one of Kennedy's female acquaintances defines the Senator as a pig. After applying the standards for defining a pig (if it looks like a pig, sounds like a pig, and exhibits frequent piggish behavior, you've got yourself a pig), there is no reason to find fault with this evaluation of Kennedy's behavior with this particular acquaintance. Given the fact that his behavior with other women was similar to this one experience, it is only logical to accept this definition of his private behavior as accurate.

Given the recent death of Ted Kennedy, there is so much material being aired in the media to suggest he was some larger than life character who exhibited nothing but bravery, intelligence, and respect for his country, his family, and his constituents. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The Senator, My Ten Years With Ted Kennedy is one place to get a more realistic picture of this controversial figure in American history.

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Oh Waiter! One Order Of Crow by Jeff Greenfield

Oh, Waiter! One Order of Crow! Inside the Strangest Presidential Election Finish in American History by Jeff Greenfield

My review

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoy Jeff Greenfield's political commentary because he has a very realistic sense of what he does for a living, and because he approaches the subjects he covers as a political analyst with a sense of humor (whenever appropriate) as well as a fair assessment of political situations. This is not always easy to do, but Greenfield manages to do it time after time when I've observed him. This book is testament to that.

The fiasco presented by the media in reporting the results of the 2000 US presidential election was almost unbelievable in scope, yet Greenfield manages to explain, for the most part, both how and why it happened. For political junkies like me, this is an entertaining and an informative read. Greenfield also follows through on the chaos that developed after the election night coverage was over. He reviews both the Gore and the Bush sides of the election issue and shows why the result of the election came about as it did. It was refreshing to read Greenfield's unbiased conclusions based as they are on political insight and common sense. Besides, who else but Greenfield could manage to bring Festivus, The Airing of Grievances, AND Froggy the Gremlin Moments into a discussion about politics. :)


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