Ted, Howard, and the Coalition for Democratic Values

I am not an expert on the life and career of Ted Kennedy. I, unlike every other blogger on Planet America, don't have much to say about his death.

However, I can never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate my favorite parlor trick: relating any subject back to Howard Metzenbaum in three steps or less.

In this case, it's easy. Ted Kennedy was one of the original members of the Coalition for Democratic Values, the group Howard founded in 1990 as a liberal counterweight to the DLC, which he scorned as Republicans disguised in Democratic clothing.

If there was anything that frustrated Howard, it was the Democratic Party's steady drift to the Right -- particularly its willingness to embrace industry lobbyists with open arms. Senator Metzenbaum, whom Ted Stevens once called "a pain in the ass," was a die-hard consumer rights advocate, and he hated to see the little guy get trampled by giant corporations.

I often wonder what Senator Metzenbaum would think of the Obama administration. Would he view Obama's attempts at bipartisanship as selling out, or as a necessary compromise? And now that Senators Metzenbaum and Kennedy are both gone, what does that mean for traditional Liberalism?