What Would Teddy Do?

Everything but part the sea, if you listen to all these fellow Senators:

Teddy would have compromised with Republicans. Teddy would have fought for a government-run health insurance plan. Teddy would have wanted civility in the debate.

These were among the differing claims Democratic and Republican lawmakers made Sunday, one day after Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, as they tried to settle on the best way to honor Kennedy's legacy in the debate over health care reform -- and answer the lingering question, "What would Teddy do?"

Their projections generally suited their party's wishes for the trajectory of the bill, though, and offered a preview of how heavily Kennedy's name may factor into the health care debate once Congress returns from its recess.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle generally agreed Sunday that Kennedy would have wanted the two parties to work in harmony on the legislation. But they differed in how he would have pursued the negotiations.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who now takes Kennedy's place as the senior senator from Massachusetts, said Sunday that Kennedy would have vigorously pursued a government-run health insurance plan -- something the Obama administration supports but has suggested is not essential.

"What Teddy would do is he would fight for that public option," Kerry said on ABC's "This Week." "He would fight for it, and he would do everything in his power to get it, just like he did for the minimum wage or like he did for children's health care."

But, perhaps responding to liberal Democrats who have threatened to walk out on a bill that does not contain that option, Kerry said Kennedy would not abandon hope for a package that does not include it.

"But if he didn't see the ability to be able to get it done, he would not throw the baby out with the bathwater. He would not say no to anything because we have to reduce the cost. ... And he would find the best way forward," Kerry said. "He would say, 'I'm going to fight the fight, and if and when we get to the point that we can't get there, we'll see whether or not we can do enough to make good happen out of this.'"

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, agreed that Kennedy was a master of "compromise" and that he would employ that skill whenever it was clear "he couldn't get everything that he wanted."

But Hatch said the health care debate has already reached that point and suggested Kennedy would have settled for a "center-right" bill.

"If he was here, I don't think we'd be in the mess we're in right now," Hatch said.

Since Teddy was able to send a letter in his final moments to Gov. Deval Patrick asking him to overturn a law Teddy promoted in 2004, couldn't he have also sent word to his colleagues to accept a compromise that didn't include the public option?

Of course not. He wasn't interested in compromise at all, and given his declining condition, I have my doubts he was the author of the letter to Patrick.

It's a myth to suggest that Teddy would have compromised on universal health care. Not with 60 Dems in the Senate and a huge majority in the House. He was, by admission of Vice President Biden, the most partisan Senator to serve in the last 50 years.

All these "What Would Teddy Do" suppositions are myths generated by those who would justify their own political positions by putting words in the mouth of someone who can no longer speak them.