The Trouble With Teddy

It is not entirely a nasty delight in gossip that makes people wonder about the character of Ted Kennedy.

The curiosity goes deeper than that. Kennedy somehow calls forth nagging mysteries of American politics and psychology. He is a lightning rod with strange electricities still firing in the air around him -- passions that are not always his responsibility but may emanate from psychic disturbances in the country itself. America does not have a completely healthy relationship with the Kennedys.

Ernest Hemingway wrote: "The most complicated subject that I know, since I am a man, is a man's life." Ted Kennedy...