WASHINGTON (By Eleanor Clift, Newsweek) April 15, 2006 — Republicans have raised millions by demonizing Ted Kennedy, and that will continue. But even Kennedy’s harshest critics have come to realize the man is a superb legislator, and if Republicans want to accomplish anything in any area of health, education and social welfare, they’ve got to contend with Kennedy.

We talk about his brothers and lionize their brief time of public service, but the senior senator from Massachusetts has the most lasting legislative achievements. By any measure, he is one of the most effective senators to serve in the U.S. Senate over an extraordinary period of time. Through the years, 44 in all since he was first elected in 1962 to fill out the term of his brother, he never backed away from calling himself a liberal, even when the word was maligned and the ideas mocked.

He’s also old-fashioned. He wants to achieve legislation. And this last quality has placed him at odds with his fellow Democrats on the issue of the day, immigration reform. Kennedy’s interest in immigration goes back to his brother Robert Kennedy’s work with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers. It goes back to his grandfather, John F. Fitzgerald, the first immigrant elected mayor of an American city. Known as Honey Fitz for his melodious voice and political charm, he told young Teddy about the signs in store windows that said, “No Irish need apply.” As a member of Congress in 1897, Honey Fitz voted to oppose a literacy requirement for new immigrants, a legacy that influenced every Kennedy that followed.

So it is not surprising that Kennedy was one of the few lawmakers to speak at the immigration rally in Washington on Monday, where he compared the outpouring of people to the great civil rights marches of the 1960s. He reminded the protesters that Martin Luther King Jr. had stood in the same place when he delivered his famous, “I have a dream speech” in 1963. Kennedy has a dream too, and that is to leave behind as part of his legacy immigration reform legislation that will establish a clear path to citizenship for most of the 12 million undocumented workers now living in legal limbo. It would close a circle that began more than 40 years ago when the first comprehensive bill Kennedy managed as a junior senator dealt with immigration.

For one shining moment last Friday it looked as though the dream as presented in a legislative partnership with John McCain, a Republican who represents Arizona—ground zero of the immigration conundrum—would win enough votes in a Senate otherwise locked in partisan gridlock. Democratic leader Harry Reid appeared before the cameras to announce the two sides were close to a deal. A compromise fashioned by Republicans Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Mel Martinez of Florida had toughened the earned citizenship portion of the Kennedy-McCain bill and made it more palatable to Republicans yet still acceptable to Kennedy.

But according to the recollections of those close to the principal figures, a battle ensued over how many amendments the Republicans would entertain, and Democrats feared that the GOP would use the amendments to strip away the progressive elements of the bill. Kennedy argued that he and McCain had the votes to defeat any troublesome amendments.

This is the U.S. Senate, Kennedy reportedly argued. The leadership has to allow for amendments. But the Democrats were dubious. They’d been burned before. And it didn’t take much persuading when New York Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer reportedly made the case that the failure to get a bill would be good for the Democrats. As the head of the Democratic campaign committee, Schumer is focused on getting his party back into power in November. With immigration protests planned for Monday, April 10, the thinking was that Senate inaction would leave the Republican House bill out there alone for the GOP to explain and defend. The House bill would turn undocumented workers into felons and impose criminal penalties on anybody who assists illegal immigrants.

Kennedy lost the debate within his own party, and it’s anybody’s guess what happens next. Republicans are looking at the massive turnout of protestors, and they’re weighing the cost of inaction at a time when they control the government. Kennedy believes life is short, time is short, and he’s there to accomplish things. It’s a quaint notion in today’s Washington.

At 74, Kennedy is probably running for reelection the last time this November, and he’s compiled his policy ideas in a short book titled, “America Back On Track.” It focuses on seven challenges that reflect his ideals along with broad policy prescriptions. It calls for working more cooperatively with other nations, a commitment to globalization that keeps America from falling behind in math and science, and an economy “that works for all, not just a privileged few.” The only proposal remotely resembling a new idea is to extend Medicare in stages until everybody is covered, a side door to national health insurance. For liberals looking for red meat, there is none. The book is a dutiful entry into the policy debate, but it is far less interesting than the man.