Patrick Kennedy: End of an era

It’s the end of a dynasty, said Mark Leibovich in The New York Times. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island has announced he’s retiring from Congress next January, meaning that for the first time since 1947, when John F. Kennedy entered Congress, there will be no Kennedy serving in national office. Patrick Kennedy, 42, the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, has spent half his life in elected office, having won a seat in the Rhode Island legislature at age 21. His famous name “afforded him a big start in his political career,” but the challenge of following in the Kennedy footsteps was also an enormous burden. While serving in Congress, he struggled with emotional problems and an addiction to painkillers.

Patrick is free at last, said Mary Ann Sorrentino in Salon.com. He can finally escape “a life he probably never wanted, likely did not choose for himself, and definitely wasn’t very good at.” The signs of his struggle were everywhere. Elected to Congress at 28, at first he wasn’t mature enough for the job; later, “he wasn’t sober enough.” He stumbled into an ugly confrontation with an airport security guard, which resulted in a lawsuit, and on another occasion was involved in a 3 a.m. traffic accident, which led to one of his multiple stays in rehab. But with his father and uncles no longer around to “force their will on him,” Patrick at last can forge his own destiny. He’ll have to do so without the “buffer” of his larger-than-life father, whom he clearly worshipped, said The Boston Globe in an editorial. With Ted gone and Patrick packing up, has Camelot reached its twilight?

Don’t bet on it, said David Catanese in Politico.com. The Kennedys’ political bench still “runs deep,” with a half-dozen Kennedy kin eyeing elective office in various states. Among them are former Rep. Joseph Kennedy, who may try to regain Uncle Ted’s Senate seat for the Democrats by challenging Scott Brown in 2012, and Edward Kennedy Jr., Patrick’s brother, who’s on the shortlist for a Senate run in Connecticut. But in recent years, the family name no longer has guaranteed political success, as Caroline Kennedy discovered last year in New York, where she sought appointment to a vacant Senate seat before awkwardly withdrawing. If there is to be another generation of Kennedys in public life, they’ll have to win on their merits—not on the basis of their famous name.

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