According to TheBigZoo.com, a “lion is very high on the food chain. As such, it has almost no predators.”

But that doesn’t mean he’ll get to eat every zebra or wildebeest he chooses.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

In the same manner, the “Lion of the Senate,” the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-MA had no equal in his liberal roar and the identification of his territory. The cable news networks are on overdrive in his memory to this fact.

But where does Teddy’s death leave the legacy of Camelot, indeed, the Kennedy “brand” (and I say that with no disrespect intended)?

Some could argue that Kennedy family politics turned 180 degrees, with father Joseph an ardent capitalist, and Pres. John F. Kennedy, who stared down Khrushchev no wilting dove. The struggle for civil rights and embedded poverty and Southern apartheid turned Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the family toward social justice and government safety nets.

The Kennedy tragedies of the 1960’s left Teddy with his calling as the liberal stalwart.

Quick story, and I’m sorry if this sounds too political. My father was a total Democrat in the 1950’s and 60’s, a strong supporter for JFK, Johnson, Humphrey, and Carter in 1976. But he couldn’t bring himself to support Kennedy. His quote: “he’s not like his brothers.” Call it sentimentality, but I think Teddy’s lunge to the far-left was too much to take for someone who had been through the sacrifices of the Depression and WWII. JFK and Bobby, yes…Teddy, no. He ended up voting “Reagan” in 1980.

So what do we think of when we remember this remarkable, storied family? Can historians point to a long trail of legislative achievements that made life better for a whole lot of Americans and citizens of the world? Or will his and the family’s legacy be one of soaring ideas, family loyalty, great sympathy, but little accomplishment?