It's Time for Kennedy to Take a Break
Saturday, July 25, 2009 12:14 AM EDT
Despite having to leave office last month to enter a Maryland addiction treatment center, Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, D-R.I., has said he still plans to seek re-election next year to the First Congressional District seat.
While we are sympathetic to Kennedy’s struggles with substance abuse and depression, and admire the fact he has turned such personal challenges into a public crusade to change the way mental illness is perceived and treated by insurance companies, we can’t help but wonder if another political campaign is really the best thing for him — or for Rhode Island.
Over the years, Kennedy’s various run-ins with the law — from the highly publicized car crash in Washington, D.C., that saw him enter rehab for the second time to scuffles with an airport security guard and a young woman who had accompanied him on a yacht — certainly have tested voters’ patience.
Unlike the 2006 car crash, however, when Kennedy
reacted with embarrassment and humility — “That’s not how I want to live my life,
and that’s not how I want to represent the people of Rhode Island,” he
said at the time — the latest relapse was treated matter-of-factly,
like taking in a car for a tuneup.
It is apparent that Kennedy’s public life is taking a great toll
on his personal life and his health. Friends call him a workaholic and
say his personal life always has taken a back seat to his career — that
being politics, the only job he has known, having first been elected
to state office when he was 21.
But Kennedy’s personal problems also are affecting his ability to do that job — representing the people of Rhode Island during critical discussions and decisions taking place in Congress.
Whether because of his famous last name or because he has been so successful in bringing federal funding to Rhode Island, voters have seen fit to keep sending Kennedy back to Congress, where he has served since 1995.
How much more are Rhode Islanders willing to take? If Kennedy won’t give himself a much-needed break from the political grind, perhaps next time around, voters should.
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2009. The
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