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Exactly what had Kennedy won? The post of whip,* after all, usually carries with it more drudgery than drama. As a factotum and deputy of the majority leader, the whip must help keep routine business flowing. He must also try to maintain party discipline on key issues, which is frequently a futile mission among independent-minded Senators and committee chairmen who are in some cases more powerful than the nominal party leaders. Once party policy on a given issue is established, the whip should defend it. He must serve as a link between the leadership and the rank and file. If he is to live up to this charter, he must sacrifice a measure of political independence and physical mobility.
The post offers unique advantages to Kennedy during the next few years. With the Republicans in control of the White House and all the big-state governorships except Texas, Congress becomes the Democrats' principal sounding board and fortress. In opposition to the White House but in firm control of Capitol Hill, the congressional Democrats thus have wider responsibility and opportunity to assert themselves than they have had with a Democratic President insistent on passing his own legislative program.
If there is to be any Democratic program in the following four years, it must come from Congress. As No. 2 man on the majority side and a member of the steering committee, Ted Kennedy will have a major role in formulating policy. Majority Leader Mansfield, a former college professor from Montana, has never been an aggressive legislative leader and, at 65, he has no aspiration for higher elective office. Thus Kennedy, his heir apparent, should have ample opportunity to show his mettle.
Moreover, as assistant majority leader, Kennedy will be able to speak out on any important issue before the Congress, free of the accusation that he is merely promoting his presidential prospects. It will be his responsibility to be a vigorous advocate. If, at the same time, he broadens his national reputation and following, that will be only in the line of duty. The fact that he will be more firmly anchored to the Senate floor than he would as an ordinary Senator scarcely hobbles his prospects for 1972. As a Kennedy, he does not have to travel for years to make political contacts or popularize his name.
The Only Senate Man
Nor does Ted face any handicaps of temperament. "Of all the Kennedys," Mansfield said after the vote, "the Senator is the only one who was and is a real Senate man." Neither J.F.K. nor R.F.K. could have won a legislative leadership post, and it is doubtful that either would have even tried. They were too restless, too impatient with Senate protocol, too determined in their bigger ambitions.