Awoke this morning to the expected yet still sad news of Senator Kennedy’s passing last night as he lost his final battle with brain cancer. Like all of us, he was a flawed human being. But he was also one who strove to rise above those flaws and accomplish something that would have a lasting impact for good for all Americans.

Other than his heartwarming and touching eulogy for his brother Robert, one of my favorite speeches of his is the one he gave in 1978 in which, while pounding the podium with his fist, he strongly declared:

“As long as I’m a vote and as long as I have a voice in the U.S. Senate, it’s going to be for the democratic platform plan that provides decent quality health care north and south, east and west, for all Americans as a matter of right and not of privilege.”

Here is the 8-minute tribute video to Senator Kennedy that was shown at the 2008 convention:

We are all the poorer for his absence.