Opinion: In today’s pages: Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Osama bin Laden
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Columnist Tim Rutten praises Ted Kennedy’s legacy as lion of the Senate:
He will exit the Senate as its third-longest-serving member ever. When he first took his seat in 1962, Jim Crow and its de facto shadow were a fact of American life, and women’s rights barely extended beyond the franchise. This year, Kennedy enthusiastically endorsed and campaigned for Obama in his contest against Hillary Rodham Clinton.A new world, surely, and one he helped usher in. But also one that seems to be unfolding without three qualities that distinguished Kennedy’s long service.
Contributing editor Jonathan Chait says Hillary Clinton supporters should know that criticism of their candidate isn’t an attack on feminism. And author Paul Roberts recommends remembering your friend the kitchen to avoid high prices and bad nutrition.
The editorial board asks Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to think twice before vetoing so-called ‘job killer’ bills, examines Congress’ latest legislative effort to help homeowners, and reminds us that Osama bin Laden is still out there: ‘[H]ave we collectively grown so numb after years of failure in the so-called global war on terror that we have accepted that Bin Laden cannot be found? If so, this is indeed the soft bigotry of low expectations.’
On the letters page, readers discuss rent control. West L.A.’s Larry Nathenson asks of one fellow letter writer, ‘Rent control is theft? Like holding up landlords at gunpoint? Is professor Gary M. Galles serious?’