Ted Kennedy collapses at Inaugural Lunch

An excerpt from Wahingtonpost.com;


Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) was awake and "feeling well" yesterday evening after suffering a seizure during a post-inaugural luncheon in honor of President Obama, said a physician who treated him.

Kennedy, who has been undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments since having surgery for brain cancer last June, was rushed from the Capitol by ambulance after he began shaking and convulsing at the luncheon, according to lawmakers and Senate staff members who were present. He was taken to Washington Hospital Center, where doctors said they thought the seizure was caused by exhaustion.

This was a sobering moment in the euphoria surrounding the Obama inauguration, especially since we all remember how the endorsement of Ted Kennedy (which came as a surprise to us all because the last major endorsement given by Ted Kennedy was to his late older brother, slain Ex-Us President John F. Kennedy). Even though Kennedy had supported previous Democratic nominees for President, his endorsement of Obama was the one in which he had spoken out actively about. The endorsement of Ted Kennedy came at a time when Obama was battling Hillary Clinton to get elected as the Democratic nominee for President, and gave Obama quite a bump in the polls.

Ted Kennedy has always been a very progressive member of the US Government, and is the second longest serving Senator next to Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) (who coincidentally also had faced health problems today at the inaugural luncheon). As the youngest brother of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, Ted Kennedy has been occupying JFK's vacant Senate seat from the time JFK got elected president, to this very day.

I hope he gets well soon, so that he can be able to see the progression of US Democracy in the hands of the Obama Cabinet, especially since his help did play a role in getting Obama to where he is today.