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Kennedy era over as Patrick Kennedy leaves Capitol Hill

Saying goodbye to America’s most famous political dynasty

MOLLY MULDOON,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Friday, December 17, 2010, 4:12 AM

Updated Friday, December 17, 2010, 5:04 AM

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Ted and Patrick Kennedy at a White House Forum on Health Reform

Shortly, for the first time in over 50 years, no member of the Kennedy family will hold national office.

As the Kennedy era comes to an end, Ed Kennedy’s son, Patrick is leaving his political life behind in a bid to step away from the public eye. Shortly he will no longer be a congressman from Rhode Island.

“I know it fits some narrative that, ‘Oh, I’m the last Kennedy,’ ” Patrick Kennedy told The New York Times, “But any one survey of what my family is doing out there in a million different ways fits with my family legacy.”

The 43-year-old plans to return to Rhode Island where he will settle into his newly renovated farmhouse in Portsmouth.

“It’s a pretty dramatic fall, and it’s symbolic of the decline of liberalism, ” says Darrell M. West, a Brookings Institution scholar.

“This is a family that once had the presidency and two Senate seats, and they’re now down to the mayor of Santa Monica,” he told the New York Times.

However, Kennedy disagrees “My family legacy was never just about government service,” said Kennedy recently.

“It was about giving back, and the branding of President Kennedy’s call for Americans to give back to their country,” he added.

At just 21-years-of-age Mr Kennedy was elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1988.

He said in the past he never considered a life outside politics, as he was so dedicated to emulating his father’s passion for public service.

Kennedy has said he will continue his work as an advocate for ending the stigma of mental illness. He also hopes to improve how disorders such as Parkinson’s disease are treated and understood.

The Rhode Island resident was treated himself for cocaine addiction in his teens and later become addicted to painkillers. He plans to pen his memoirs entitled “Coming Clean” which will detail his struggles.

“Ultimately, I see telling my own story as a more palatable way to get out the story of the neuroscience,” Mr. Kennedy said. “I don’t want to be talking about salacious details for the purpose of salacious details, but for the purpose of fitting it into a context to describe a bigger story.”

Upon leaving Capitol Hill, Kennedy plans to organize a brain research conference for May in Boston which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of JFK’s speech to congress, proposing to send man to the moon.

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paricaliswishes | Dec 20, 2010, 06:32 PM EST

Was it really worth it? As soon as you get a bitta success n this world people start talkin to you through a prism.

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Jdangler | Dec 18, 2010, 04:00 PM EST

Its about time. Praise the Lord for many blessings.

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willieboy | Dec 17, 2010, 07:48 PM EST

Ain't that a dasmn shame NOT>....

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seamusmoore | Dec 17, 2010, 06:41 PM EST

Mnelis1 What would Ted Kennedy, someone who checked into game of life halfway between third and home (to use a baseball metaphor), know about helping the less well off. In 1990 Ted Kennedy insisted on a excise tax of 10% on yacht purchases to tax the rich; three years later, good 'ol Ted led the effort to repeal the excise tax because it put the people who actually built the yachts out of work. They say charity begins at home; judging from the towns of Brockton and Fall River MA which masquerade as economic sinkholes. The world's wealthiest man, Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim, told Larry King that the best way to help the less fortunate is to first give them a job and then help them with govt programs if need be. Ted Kennedy spent his whole public life killing jobs, not creating them. What have I done? Well I didn't kill anyone, unlike the late Edward "No More" Kennedy. Then again, I was raised by decent, hard-working Irish immigrants, not a complete scumbag like Joe Kennedy whose favorite joke was: What's the difference between a Jew and a pizza? One doesn't scream when you put it in the oven. What a Prince!

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Monsoonman | Dec 17, 2010, 05:48 PM EST

"ask yourself one question - what have I done lately to help make this a better country" Joined the Tea Party.

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mnelis1 | Dec 17, 2010, 03:20 PM EST

Is it all morons who read this site or just the ones who comment, as the lot below have clearly demonstrated? The Kennedy family had their faults (don't we all?) but there are few, if any, other families who have given greater public service to this nation. Two brothers executed in their prime, and a third dead in WWII. In particular, Ted Kennedy's legislative record speaks for itself in terms of the benefit to literally millions of Americans less well off than most of us. You folks critical of the Kennedy's, ask yourself one question - what have I done lately to help make this a better country for ALL of us?

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katieherk | Dec 17, 2010, 12:19 PM EST

Amen, I say.... finally the end of this scandalous family. Yes, they're known for doing some good but it's always the girls who did it. The menfolk were mostly trash.

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Monsoonman | Dec 17, 2010, 11:53 AM EST

Correction: Kilpatrick, apologies to my Fitzpatrick Brothers and Sisters.

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Monsoonman | Dec 17, 2010, 11:44 AM EST

No there are ends to other "Irish American" political dynasties too as we speak. Ex Detroit Mayor Kwame Fitzpatrick is back in jail on new charges of political racketeeting, extortion, bribery and running a criminal enterprise. I guess this big city democrat mayor just didn't have enough juice to keep above the fray.

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jdi2269 | Dec 17, 2010, 11:38 AM EST

IT'S A DAY TO CELEBRATE!

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greenferrett101 | Dec 17, 2010, 11:28 AM EST

Looks like an end to top Irish Americans in politics....

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haikued2 | Dec 17, 2010, 11:08 AM EST

With due respect to the family, we never needed a royal family here, Irish or not.

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walleyeman | Dec 17, 2010, 10:59 AM EST

well like the old joke about "what do you call 500 lawyers at athe bottom of tahe ocean" it's a start. now if we can rid ourselves of a couple other family dynasties, the levins and dingell as well as pelosi,waxman boxer,lee,rangel.schumer,reid,etc. you get the idea.

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acemaker | Dec 17, 2010, 09:29 AM EST

don't let the door kick you in your ass

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seamusmoore | Dec 17, 2010, 09:28 AM EST

In August, 1969, when Ireland REALLY NEEDED the "leader" of Irish America to stand up for them, Ted Kennedy was MIA. Why, you may ask? He was too busy trying to save his own hide from the Chappaquiddick fallout. Who knows how the Troubles would have played out? Maybe the Provos (established spring 1970) would have never come into existence. My late father, a very sage Kerryman, used to say that "the Kennedys were Irish in the same way that de Valera was American, when it suited them."

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