Sen. Kennedy's Unique Gift

Sen. Kennedy's death is a deep loss, particularly for those who care deeply about health-care reform. I was struck by the fact that even when I met Republican lawmakers quite far away from Kennedy on the political spectrum, they felt that he had a unique ability and passion to get people with deeply adversarial positions together and find sufficient common ground to get legislation passed. He obviously had a unique skill, and he will be missed.

It is highly unlikely that any current leader can single-handedly do what Kennedy would have done. However, sometimes groups of leaders will emerge to fill a vacuum, and that could certainly happen here. There appears to be a broad-based desire to get some legislation passed, and there is actually more common ground among lawmakers of both parties than the media coverage would indicate. The key to getting this done will be for all stakeholders to step back and determine what they must have to achieve their policy goals, as opposed to what they would like to have to score a "victory" over their opposition.

What Kennedy did beautifully and regularly across a variety of issues was to make everyone focus on their "needs," rather than their "wants." Once that happened, there was ample room for compromise. Never has it more necessary to get that to happen.

By Michael Critelli  |  August 28, 2009; 4:17 PM ET  | Category:  Health Care Reform , Leadership , Public policy
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